Alternia Stuck
by cannibalisticReaper
Summary: In which Sgrub never existed and fifteen trolls attend High School at night (since they can't stand the sun), quadrants are filled and then possibly fucked up, and the lonely get some love! Contains GamzeexTavros, AradiaxSollux, EquiusxNepeta (more than moirails just cause), and more. M for language and smut. R&R?
1. Meeting the Fuckasses

**So the whole idea for this started because I wanted to give the high bloods some love. No other reason than that. I was actually just writing this for myself, but my sister wanted me to post it and you know how that goes. Anyway, enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: Homestuck and all the lovely trolls in it belong to Andrew Hussie.**

The three trolls walked side by side by side in darkness as they approached the ironically-three-story building, each retaining a different opinion towards their current situation. The youngest, only 7 sweeps, was thrilled by the opportunity to make something of herself. Her name was Lumia Koontz, and she was what most referred to as a mustard-blood. Given her blood color, she also possessed psionic powers, but she'd never really learned how to put much use to them. She usually just levitated things when she was too lazy to get up and get them. Regardless, she considered her powers pretty cool, as did her friends.

Her hair was styled in a short bob: black bangs hovering over her left eye and coming to a curl at the end. She had two fangs that protruded from her lips and rested on either side of her mouth, and horns that resembled those of a typical demon: coming to a point while also curving inward a bit. She had on a black t-shirt, and tennis shoes to match. Her beanie was grey, much like her vest and jeans, and on her t-shirt rested her symbol. It was a circle with three nine-like shapes jutting out of the left end, and mirrored the same shade of yellow as her blood. On her back rested a bulky golden backpack, jam-packed with an abundance of supplies that she'd unlikely use, and on her face resided a goofy grin.

She looked to her right and stared at her friend with that same shit-eating grin that almost made him want to smile back. The boy's name was Troi Avens, he was 7 ½ sweeps old, and he couldn't care less about the situation. He had olive colored blood and, not to mention, a gloomy expression, which was no different than any other day, seeing as he typically maintained his dismal poker face. His entire top row of teeth was fangs and his tongue had a nice sized hole in the middle.

His hair was long and rested in a simple ponytail that bounced with every step he took, with only a few strands of black hair on either side to frame his face. His horns are spherical and the size of friggin' doorknobs, which makes everyone who sees them want to find out if they actually turn, which annoys him to no end. He was wearing a black, long sleeved shirt that contained both a dangerously low v-neck and his symbol: an olive green infinity sign. He wore grey pajama bottoms, black sneakers, and a grey collar around his neck designed for disobedient lusus. Slung over one shoulder was his Twilight Sparkle backpack, which he wore with pride because 'My Little Hoofbeast: Moirallegince is Magic' was nothing to be ashamed of.

To HIS right stood yet another troll girl named Phaedra Ellistin, who matched his age (only ahead by a week or so) and had the dark ocean running through her veins: so in other words, she had indigo blood. She had on a black tank top, a pair of blue skinny jeans, and black lace-up combat boots (which she didn't even bother lacing up half the time). On her shirt rested a dark blue pentagram that matched both her blood and her pants, and covering her left eye was a translucent blue eye-gear thingy that served as her portable computer and ensured that both of her eyes were shielded, which brings us to her hair. It was long and choppy, with layered bangs that completely covered her right eye.

On her face is an amused smirk that displays her three fangs: one on the left and two on the right, and her eyebrow is cocked up suspiciously. She doesn't bother with a backpack, figuring that since it's their first day, nothing of importance would go down. Her horns are large half-circles that curve around her head and nearly touch her ear with their tips. Needless to say, they seriously get in the way of things, but she loves them all the same.

The three trolls all stare up at their new High School and scrutinize its appearance. The walls are grey, much like their hives, and there are several yellow-tinted windows on each floor. The front doors are wide open to reveal a busy hallway, full of trolls who arrived early to get situated. Said doors towered over the three eerily, at least 8 feet higher than the top of the stairs. The friends stood silent, until finally, Lumia decided to shower them with enthusiasm.

"Isn't this amazing guys? We're finally old enough to attend High School!" she shouted gleefully, making her two friends want to vomit out of their asses respectively. The two quickly exchanged a glance, and then marched into the building, pushing past the wave of idiots that kept running into them. Not at all affected, Lumia followed them until they were all three safe and sound in the cafeteria. They gathered at a large table in the back-corner of the room, looking for a quiet place to compare schedules and idly chat until the bell rang.

"Alright, lemme see your fucking schedules. I gotta make sure I have classes with you two, cause I ain't sure if I can deal with a whole sweep of nothing but morons," Phaedra said while digging her own schedule and a purple pen from her back pocket. The other two complied and followed suit, digging their schedules out of their bags. Once all three of the papers were out for display, Phaedra snatched them up for comparing.

"Well, do we have any? Come on, don't be a bitch! Tell us," the mustard blood whined after three minutes of intense comparing. Phaedra just rolled her eyes and handed the papers back out to their owners. Lumia snatched the paper and quickly skimmed over it, noticing the purple ink coating it. Troi nonchalantly grabbed his and did the same, rubbing his right temple while doing so.

After a couple minutes of consulting, the trio deducted that they had very few classes together. Troi and Lumia had first period English together, Troi and Phaedra had third period History together, and all three of them shared fourth period Physics/lunch. Each of them frowned at the stupid pieces of paper, deciding that this would definitely take some getting used to.

"How are we supposed to enjoy school if we're separated like this?" Lumia asked with mild annoyance, feeling as if this had all been an elaborate set-up to fuck her and her friends over.

"Call me crazy, but something's telling me that we aren't supposed to have fun in school," Troi responded sarcastically, barely detectable beneath his dreary monotone.

"Bro, I think Troi's right about that. We're supposed to be learning and shit, but that don't mean it sucks tentabulge any less," the indigo blooded troll pondered aloud, winking at Troi as she said it. Knowing she was just being an idiot, Troi offered one of his rare half-smiles and nodded, "It blows my damn mind to think that YOU of all trolls are a genius."

Both Lumia and Phaedra laughed at this, knowing it to be one of the greatest mysteries in all of fucking Alternia. The group continued to make jokes at each other's expense until shouting from the table over interrupted their conversation.

"What the fuck is your problem? How can you possibly get any fucking dumber, seriously? I would genuinely like to know so I can prevent it from ever happening, because I swear, if you got ANY dumber, I would fucking yank down my pants and smack you with my bulge right in front of everyone!"

Troi rolled his eyes at the other trolls idiocy before continuing his conversation with Lumia about his lusus' most recent escapades. Phaedra, instincts taking over, kept listening to the loud troll with a scowl.

"Oh no, you'd probably fucking like that wouldn't you, chum bucket? Jegus, why I even put up with you, I'll never fucking know."

Rocketing into defend mode, Phaedra stood where she was, narrowed her eyes at the boy, and shouted.

"Hey asshole! What in the fuck is your fucking problem, like seriously? What the hell makes you think it's ok to talk to somebody like that?" she hissed, venom dripping with every word. The loud troll turned and glared at Phaedra, and any one that wasn't staring before definitely was now, including her friends. Troi groaned and squeezed the bridge of his nose in response to his friend's impulsive actions, "Dammit Phaedra, just sit down! It's not even first period yet and you're already getting into it with someone."

The loud mouth grimaced at Troi for a moment before directing his attention back to the girl in the blue skinny jeans.

"Mind your own fucking business would you? Listen to your bulgechaffing friend and sit your ass down!"

Lumia shot out of her seat and frowned, not liking how things were starting out. She looked at the loud troll with sympathy, knowing how abrasive Phaedra could be sometimes, and did her best to console him.

"Look, I'm really sorry about my friend, I'm sure she didn't-"

"Don't fucking apologize for me, I ain't fucking sorry," said friend interrupted harshly, "This fucker needs to learn some respect! Who the hell were you even yelling at in the first place?"

The antagonist pointed at a troll with a cape and a violet streak through his hair before responding with, "I was yelling at this cod piece for trying to pressure this asshole," he firmly explained, now pointing at some troll with red and blue glasses, "into some bullshit Kismesis relationship for the millionth fucking time this week!"

Troi shook his head in despair, wishing none of this was happening, '_Why can't she ever just NOT stick up for someone? It's so pointless and all it's going to do is get us all in trouble…'_

"I don't give a flying fuck what he was doing, that doesn't give you the fucking right to say that shit! How would you like it if some fuckass was screaming at you in front of everyone of the first day of school, huh? Oh wait that's right, I'M already doing that!" Phaedra screamed while balling up her fists, prepared to kick this midget's ass for his insolence.

"Phaedra please calm down, this isn't any of our business," Lumia said in an attempt to auspisticise the situation. Both Phaedra and the midget troll turn to face her for a brief moment and growl, and then return to their shouting match, "Gog, I feel so fucking sorry for that dude over there, having to put up with YOUR bullshit. You, with the badass cape, what's your fucking name?"

The troll in the badass cape stares back at her with his mouth wide open, but someone manages to get out a small, "Eridan."

The indigo blood smiles warmly at him, then walks over to him and extends a hand, which he doesn't bother to shake. Disregarding this, she retracts her arm, tilts her head to the side, and places her hands on her hips while continuing to look at the Eridan fellow.

"Well fucking hello to you Eridan, I'm Phaedra. Nice to meet ya. By the way, love the hair bro, like legit. Love the cape and pants, too. Now explain to me, why are you letting midget fuck over there yell at you like that? You're a damn sea dweller, doesn't that mean you have some kind of ability that you can use to silence him or some shit? Cause he's getting real fucking annoying, and you don't need to take that shit from some… What, grey blood? What the hell even is his blood color?"

Eridan scoffs and stands so that he's now taller than Phaedra by a little less than a foot. A girl in a red skirt sitting at the other end of the table merely laughs, which Phaedra doesn't really appreciate, but let's slide when the sea dweller responds with, "I don't need no help from some stinkin' land dwweller, I wwould'vve taken care a' it."

More than a little offended, Phaedra glared at Eridan and crossed her arms, not at all pleased with what he said. Here she was, trying to help somebody, and all she gets in return is some bullshit, smartass answer in a ridiculously basic kind of speech. Weren't sea dwellers supposed to be regal and shit?

"Listen fuckass, I just stood up for you! The least you could do is thank me," she insisted, growing more irritated by the minute. She was about to say something else when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she recognized the troll as Troi and opted to stay quiet. For now. The troll in front of her just frowned at her in revulsion before saying, "Wwhy, I didn't ask for help from nobody? Wwhat made ya think I needed any from you?"

Alright, Phaedra was pissed now. It seemed like everyone at this table was an asshole! She shook off Troi's hand, stood on her tip toes, and got up in Eridan's face: baring her three fangs.

"I fucking helped you because I felt bad for you, and I didn't THINK you needed help, I knew you did. You obviously weren't gonna stick up for yourself, so I had to."

Looking a bit ruffled, Eridan backed up a bit before resuming his look of disdain, "You don't evven knoww me, wwhy should you care?"

Phaedra gaped at this in disbelief. What kind of question was that anyway? She lowered herself back to her usual height and sighed, allowing Troi to soothingly massage her shoulders. Fuck, did she just adore her moirail, always knowing just what to do to calm her down.

"Ya, why would you care," the yellow blood snickered, "Hith own friendth don't, we jutht let him thtick around tho we have thomething to laugh at!"

The girl in the red skirt from earlier sighed audibly and interjected with, "Sollux, he may be upsetting at times, but I highly doubt that that is cause for saying something so crude. He is our friend, even yours, and deserves at least a smidgen of respect, despite his laughable way of speaking," she added with a small smirk. It was then that the midget fuck decided to say something, which just made Phaedra even more upset because holy fuck did she hate him.

"Fuck Sollux, why don't you shove your dual bulges up his fucking nook already? Gog dammit, even I'M not that rude to people!"

"Holy fuck, would you both just shut up already!?" Phaedra yelled in exhaustion, holding a hand out in his direction as if that could shut him up, "Just stop fucking shouting and let me deal!"

The last person sitting at the table, who hadn't done anything but smile the whole time, finally included his own input, "Y'all just need to motherfucking chill," he chuckled, not really taking this seriously, "Kick back and relax with a wicked elixir or-"

"Do not tell me to 'motherfucking chill' you asshat!" the midget screamed, arms flailing above him.

"Jegus, are you just a total ass to ALL of your friends!? Besides, the dude with the white face paint is right, we need to just… Calm down and shit," Phaedra concluded, giving into Troi's magical fucking fingers that were pressing into her skin. Lumia walked over to the five trolls who had been sitting at the table and started apologizing like crazy, embarrassed by her friend's outburst.

"I'm so sorry about this, I hope you don't think too badly of us! She isn't usually like this, I swear!"

Troi snorted from behind Phaedra and, without looking up at the other trolls, contradicted with, "Ya, she is, but she means well. She just hates it when people bully others, so she returns the favor by being a complete bitch to the bully. Ha, guess she didn't expect for the victim to be a complete bastard too, now did ya?" he questioned, now directing his voice towards Phaedra. She groaned in response, annoyed by the fact that he was right. Lumia scowled at Troi, but he continued massaging and pretended not to notice.

By now the crowd around them had dispersed, disappointed that there wouldn't be a fight. The midget was mumbling to himself while the yellow blood smirked at him, finding his anger extremely entertaining. The troll with the face paint just gazed lovingly at the ceiling, most likely somewhere else entirely in that think pan of his. The remaining two just fumbled with their attire, looking for something to do to get out of this awkward situation. Lumia joined them at their table with a frown and crossed her arms, upset with her friends for ruining her first day. So much for making new friends.

Once he was sure she'd calmed down, Troi ceased massaging Phaedra's shoulders and took a seat next to the loopy clown-looking fellow who paid him no mind. Phaedra and Eridan were the only two standing, but Eridan refused to even look at her. This made Phaedra sigh in defeat, with one last, "You're fucking welcome."

She sat down at the chair next to Eridan's, not really caring what he had to say on the matter. So here the eight of them were, sitting at the same table and wanting to murder each other. They remained silent, other than the midget's mumbling, before the girl in the red skirt broke the ice.

"Hello, my name is Kanaya and it's a pleasure meeting you three. You've certainly made our morning interesting," she added with a small giggle that seemed somehow out of place for her. Taking this as her last chance for friendship, Lumia quickly introduced herself, taking the liberty to introduce her friends as well.

"Hi! My name is Lumia Koontz. The guy over there," she motioned at the olive-blood, "is Troi Avens. The girl who started all this," now motioning towards the indigo blood, "is Phaedra Ellistin. Again, I'm like super sorry about all of this."

"Ain't gotta be all up and sorry about nothin' sis. All this did was bring even more motherfuckers together. Shit's like some kind of miracle," the clown said dreamily, still staring at the wall. Lumia raised an eyebrow at Kanaya, who only shrugged in response.

"Shut up about your stupid fucking miracles! They don't even fucking exist!"

Lumia looked over at the midget and forced a smile, undeterred by his constant yelling, and then said, "Well, they might be real! The fact that nobody's fighting seems pretty miraculous to me."

"Why are you guyth even thitting here if you don't know uth?" the other mustard blood asked, ignoring Lumia's outlook on miracles. Deciding that he made an excellent point, Lumia suggested that they introduce themselves, starting with the fellow yellow blood.

"The nameth Thollux Captor."

Troi and Phaedra laughed their asses off, figuring out from his precious statements that he had a lisp and his name was, in fact, Sollux. Troi was the first to say something, pointing out that, "That's a shitty name ass name for someone with a lisp. So tell me 'Thollux', what up with the speech impediment?"

"That'th none of your buthinethh athhhole!"

The two laughed even harder at this, clutching at their sides in an attempt to NOT fall out of their seats. Kanaya and Eridan laugh as well, always finding their friends lisp amusing, while the midget introduced himself.

"My name's Karkat Vantas, and don't you fucking DARE use any stupid nicknames like 'Karkitty', got it?"

"You got it, Karcunt," Phaedra teased not-so-playfully, causing the other three to howl with laughter. Lumia gave Phaedra a look of disapproval before addressing Karcu- Er, Karkat.

"Why not? I think Karkitty is adorable!"

Karkat just growled at her before going back to mumbling. The troll at the far end of the table straightened himself out and said in a gravelly voice, "Name's Gamzee motherfucking Makara my invertebrother and sister's, but y'all can just up and call me whatever ya want."

And with that, he resumed staring at the ceiling, muttering something about 'Faygo and miracles'. Karkat rolled his eyes at his friend's idiocy before slamming his face down on the table.

"My name is Eridan Ampora, and you land dwellers wwill refer to me as such usin' my wwhole name, got it?"

Phaedra raised an eyebrow at him, trying to figure out if he was serious or not. After concluding that he was, she poked his cheek and smiled, stating simply, "Wwhatevver you say Ampora," while mocking his accent. Eridan's cheeks turned violet and he quickly turned away, not bothering to correct her. She smirked in triumph and was about to say something arrogant when two other girls approached the table.

"Hi buoys and gils! I can't believe it's our first day of high-tide school, I'm just so EXCITED!"

Troi blanched upon seeing her, wanting to hurl from her enthusiasm. He didn't think it could get any worse than Lumia, but boy, was he so wrong. The troll next to the perky one was swaying while she walked, and had on the same wide grin as her friend. She said nothing, though, and sat next to the Sollux kid, giving him a kiss on the cheek and grasping his hand. He did nothing, only allowed her to do as she pleased. The 'EXCITED' one sat in between Eridan and Troi, widening her eyes at the addition of three new trolls.

"Who are you three? Hehe, I'm Feferi, and the gill I was walking with is Aradia," she said happily while Aradia just gave a small wave, "It's so glubbing fintastic to sea you!"

The olive blooded boy to her right groaned, and then begrudgingly stated his and his friends names while pointing at them.

"Whale this is fun! Hehe today is gonna be the best. Oh! We should dolphinately compare schedules and sea if we have any classes together!"

Everyone at the table pulled out their schedules and handed them to Feferi. While she joyfully looked them over, five more trolls approached the table and repeated the introduction process for what Troi hoped was the last time today. There were just too many fucking people.

"The name's Troi Avens. The badass bitch in the tank top is Phaedra Ellistin," he gestured towards her and she responded with a nod before kicking back and resting her feet on the table, "and the beautiful lady across the table from me with the beanie is Lumia Koontz. Just warning you, she's a bit of a tight ass, and Phaedra? Well, she's pretty much the opposite."

"AC giggles before saying, 'It's so nice to meet you! My name is Nepeta Legion, and this here is my meowrail: Equius Zahhak! Equius, say hi,'" the small cat-troll said, making Phaedra giddy. Fuck, did she love cats. The male next to her tensed up, and Lumia could've sworn he was starting to sweat a little.

"As was mentioned by my moirail-"

"Meowrail!" Nepeta corrected with a pout. Equius nodded, then continued, "Excuse me, I meant to say by my 'meowrail', and my name is Equius. I see that there is someone equal to me in stature?"

All but three of the trolls (Karkat, Sollux, and Feferi) looked over at Phaedra, who just raised an eyebrow, "Uh ya… So what, you a royal blood too?"

Equius nodded and bowed slightly, happy to be in the presence of someone who understood and recognized the hemospectrum. Phaedra, focusing on something else entirely, set her feet back on the ground and stood up.

"Holy fuck, Troi! Those two are just like us!"

Troi nodded, noticing that their blood colors did, in fact, mirror the other pair of moirails. He supposed that maybe there was something about the blood castes that drew them together. Speaking of which, him and Phaedra were moirails was because he was calm and collected, while she jumped to defensive mode every time there was a threat made and was prone to violence. She was pretty chill and actually really cool when she wasn't pissed off, so Troi didn't mind hanging with her. Then, when she would fly off the handle, he'd be there to calm her down.

"AC notices the same thing and says, 'This is purrfect! I'm sure we'll be the best of furiends'."

Equius, who was too busy coping with the fact that a fellow indigo blood would use such lewd language, muttered something about 'needing a towel' and 'excusing himself to go to the bathroom', then walked out of the cafeteria. Nepeta was the only one who really paid any attention, seeing as there were three more trolls yet to give their names.

"I'm Vriska: Vriska Serket, but you can call me Mindfang," she added with a grin, "The pathetic loser in the four wheel device is Tavros. Go on Tavros, say hi, and make sure to stutter the whole time."

"Hi, um, you already know my name, so, uh…" he trailed off, deciding to just roll over to the edge of the table where Gamzee was STILL staring at the damn ceiling. There was a groan heard from behind Vriska, and a girl in stylish red glasses walked over to sit next to Karkat, making sure to run into Vriska while doing so.

"My name's Terezi, and you," now pointing at Lumia, "smell absolutely delicious, like honey!"

Lumia blushed and mumbled a 'thanks' before the remaining troll took her seat next to Phaedra at the table. So the seats went like this: on the right side sat (in this order) Terezi, Karkat, Sollux, Aradia, Kanaya, Nepeta, and Equius (who had just come back from drying himself off in the bathroom). On the left sat (in this order) Vriska, Phaedra, Eridan, Feferi, Troi, and Gamzee. Lumia and Tavros positioned themselves at the ends.

"Alright, I have good news!"

Everyone ceased their small talk to give Feferi their attention.

"If anyfin is highlighted, then that means you have a class with salmon (A/N: Ok I know, that was a stretch.) at this table, naut including the other five who just arrived. Sorry you guys," she said with a dejected frown, then handed back the schedules. The majority of the group just thanked her and said things along the lines of 'don't worry about it', which made her smile return instantly. For the rest of the down time, the large group began conversing with the people next to them: Vriska with Phaedra and Eridan, Feferi with Troi, Gamzee with Tavros (Hey, look who stopped spacing out long enough to get a craving for PB&J?), Nepeta with Equius and Kanaya, Sollux with Aradia, and Lumia with Terezi and Karkat.

Once the bell rang, friendships had been formed, and many a troll was now in cahoots with another. Vriska and Phaedra went to first period Gym together, exchanging troll tags and making plans to Flarp, while Lumia and Troi walked to English with Feferi and Karkat, both girls doing their best to get the guys to smile. Eridan walked to History alone, Terezi walked to Physics with Nepeta, who threw a fit when she discovered Equius wouldn't be coming with, Equius went to Intro to Engineering with Sollux, who made sure to stay at least three feet away from the indigo blood, Gamzee rode the back of Tavros' wheelchair as they both went to Health (mwhahaha), and both Aradia and Kanaya went to Home Economics, discussing fashion and death.

…

Unsurprisingly, they all had lunch together and, even MORE unsurprisingly, they all sat at the same table in nearly the same order, save Karkat and Terezi who'd switched seats. They'd all gotten their lunches and were now conversing with one another, sometimes screaming when the conversations got too heated.

"Wwhy do ya gotta be like that Sol?" Eridan pouted at the troll across from him.

"Damn, how many timeth do I have to thay it? I am not, and never will be, flushed for your pathetic athh," Sollux groaned while his matesprit wrapped an arm around him possessively and smiled innocently at Eridan, "And don't you dare thtart 'glubbing' on FF jutht cauthe sheth a thea dweller! Heth tho pathetic, he'll even hit on hith moirail," he said in disgust while directing his speech towards Troi. Troi just nodded before continuing his conversation with Feferi, who he'd grown fond of after the two classes they had together. Feferi paid Sollux no mind, already aware of her friend's affections, but not returning them. Honestly, she'd been planning on ending their Moirallegince because she just couldn't deal with his problems anymore. Oh well, might as well do it now.

"Umm, hey Eridan?" she whispered while tapping on his shoulder. He ceased arguing with Sollux to see what she needed.

"Geez, wwhat is it Fef? Can't ya see I'm a little busy here?" he asked with mild irritation. Feferi pointed to the door that led to the hallway, then stood up to exit the lunchroom with Eridan following close behind. Once they were where no one else could hear them, Feferi broke the news.

"Eridan… You know I care aboat you and everyfin… But, I can't keep doing this. I… I don't think we should be moirails anymore," Feferi barely got out, turning to the side because she knew there was no way she could look him in the eyes. She just knew there'd be tears there, and if she saw them she'd want to wipe them away, which would only make the situation worse. There was a sniffle, and then, "Wwell fine, I don't fuckin' need you anyway."

"Eridan-"

"No!" he yelled, violet tears falling to the tile floor, "Don't apologize to me, I ain't no fuckin' cod piece. I can handle bein' dumped ya knoww."

"I'm so sorry…," and with that, Feferi made her way back to her seat in the cafeteria. Eridan didn't follow this time, and instead slammed his back into one of the lockers, sliding down until he was curled into himself. He started to wail as he drenched his pants with tears, "Wwhy doesn't nobody lovve me?"

…

"Hey sorry aboat that, I had to talk to Eridan."

Feferi took her seat next to Troi, who immediately noticed her lack of a smile. He turned to her with genuine concern and asked her what happened in a calm voice, doing his best to ease her unknown worries.

"Oh, I glubbed up Eridan's blood pusher and dumped him as my moirail," she admitted with a sigh. Sollux said he deserved it, and then went to casually chatting with Aradia. Troi gave her a quizitive look, and then, "If it was gonna make you feel bad, then why did you do it?"

"Because I can't kelp him…"

Phaedra ceased talking to Vriska, whom she referred to as Mindfang to humor her, and directed her attention to Feferi.

"Where the fuck did he go?" she asked: concerned. Feferi said he might still be in the hallway, so Phaedra decided to start there.

"Sorry Mindfang, I gotta check on the sea dwelling fucker," she offered, but Vriska just frowned and said, "You ain't 'gotta' do anything. Just let him cry, and go talk to him when he decides to grow a bulge and man up."

Phaedra laughed at this, and then offered another quick apology as she exited the lunchroom. Sure enough, there he was: curled into himself and balling his eyes out. The indigo blooded troll sat to his left and nudged his shoulder with her arm, causing him to stir and swiftly wipe away the tears.

"Relax, you can keep crying if ya want to. I just wanted to see if you were ok, and obviously you aren't so… I guess all that's left to say is I'm sorry? Unless you wanna talk about it or something, cause I'd be up for that too," she consoled, making sure to look into his eyes so he understood she was genuinely worried. Eye contact was everything, which Eridan had just realized only moments ago.

"She wwouldn't evven look me in the eyes! My moirail… That wwas all I had! And noww she's gone…," he trailed off, his body rocking with yet another set of tears, "An' the wworst part is, I doubt anybody in there wwill evven bother wwith me noww!"

Phaedra thought about this, then observed that, "Um, I'm bothering with you, right? And just a moment ago I was 'in there' so, ya."

"I suppose you got a point...," Eridan reluctantly agreed, wiping away the remaining tears.

"There ya go. Now, anything else you need to talk about?"

"Wwell… I am a little bummed out about Sol, wwhat wwith him rejectin' me and stuff," he admitted, and then, "Do ya mind if I just rest my head on your shoulder?"

Phaedra shrugged, signaling that she didn't care either way, so the sea dweller commenced laying his head on her shoulder.

"It's just so hard! It's so hard bein' me an' nobody understands… Wwhy is life so hard Phae?"

Once again she shrugged, and then added, "Maybe life just knows you can take it? Like, maybe the bitch only fucks with the strong ones."

Eridan considered this for a minute before retaliating with, "Then wwhy ain't it hard for Eq? He's always goin' on about howw STRONG he is, and nothin' seems bad for him. He's got a cute little moirail that followws him around evverywwhere, they may as wwell be fuckin' matesprits."

"I don't mean physical strength, which fuck, does that fucker have A LOT of that, fucking prick. I'm talking mental strength," she explained, earning her a, "Then wwhy don't life fuck wwith you?"

Phaedra wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. She could say something about the compliment he'd unknowingly given her, or she could tell him that life for her hadn't been all that easy. She settled on the latter, figuring if she brought up the compliment, he'd deny even saying it.

"Well I'm glad ya brought that up, Ampora. Heh, life hasn't been as easy for me as you might think. Now listen closely, cause what I'm about to tell you is kind of a secret. Troi was the only one who knew, and now you'll know."

"Wwhy wwould you tell me then?" he asked light-heartedly, twisting so he could see her face. She didn't meet his gaze, though, and stared blankly at the wall in front of her.

"Cause I want to help you, and the only way I can do that is if I prove your problems are bullshit in comparison," she stated with a forced smile, which immediately faltered as she began her story, "Back when I was but a grub, only two sweeps old, I awoke from my recuperacoon and sensed something was wrong. I didn't know why, but things just didn't feel right. My instincts took over and told me to search for my lusus, so I did. I had a beautiful lusus that I'd named Sir Fluffybutt. It was a befitting name for the bunny, despite his enormous size and muscle mass. Hell, I dare say his muscles were bigger and more defined than that prude Equius'. Anyway, he was my everything: the best lusus I could possibly hope for. I searched my entire hive for the not so little guy, but found nothing. I decided to go outside and search for him there, knowing that he enjoyed hunting other living creatures and what I found was… Well, not what a troll of two sweeps was prepared to see. Sir Fluffybutt's body was lying just outside my door, blood pouring out of him and pooling around his mangled corpse. His head had been… Removed, and was lying a couple feet away: its eyes still open and just staring at me. He'd put up a fight against his attacker, which was obvious because of the bruising on his body, but to no avail. I think the worst thing about it was the note."

Eridan lifted his head and looked at her with pity, urging her to continue: to explain what was on the note.

"The note had said, '_An eye for an eye, and a lusus for a lusus,' _and was written with what I presumed to be Sir Fluffybutt's blood. At first, I had no clue what the note meant, but then I remembered Sir Fluffybutt's daily hunts, and I quickly put two and two together. My lusus must have killed another troll's lusus, so the troll had wanted revenge: which they got. I shouldn't have been so upset… They had every right to do what they did, but… I snapped. I spent two days searching for the killer of my lusus, using only their writing/typing quirk to distinguish them. I would've searched all of Alternia if need be, but luckily for me, the murderer lived fairly close. So, I took my scythe out of my strife specibus, knocked on the door, and culled the troll who answered it. I knew it was him, because when he looked at me, I could see something revolting looking back: he'd been smug, but now he had to pay the price. I cut off his head like he did to my lusus, and it remains on a shelf in my respiteblock: like a trophy. It was my constant reminder of what I lost and that I'd have to grow up alone, but it was also proof of what I was capable off. I guess you could say I got a little carried away with it after that… I researched the troll: learned the names and locations of everyone he cared about, and I culled them all. That's nine trolls, and nine heads for display in my hive total. The other eight are scattered in various rooms throughout my hive, always watching me, because I made sure their eyes were open as I watched the life drain from them. There was only one that I let live… He was an olive blood, and had been Kismesis with the first troll I killed. Somehow, he was able to console me and I still know him to this day. If it weren't for him, I probably would've kept killing until I found someone who could either overpower me or outsmart me. Then I'd be dead, end of story."

Phaedra turned to look at Eridan, losing the make-believe staring contest she'd been having with the wall. He looked frightened, but he still clung to her which confused her, like it wasn't her murders that scared him. She smirked, and then nodded towards the cafeteria saying, "Ya know Troi?"

Eridan nodded slowly, eyes wide in anticipation. This made Phaedra laugh: fuck, was he eager to hear the rest.

"He's been my moirail ever since."

After a couple of seconds, it finally sunk into Eridan's think pan. He leaned to his right and peered in the cafeteria for a moment, then directed his attention back to Phaedra.

"Phae that's… Fuck, that's depressin'," he said, stating the obvious, "Sorry 'bout losin' your lusus and evverythin'."

"Eh, not your fault. Ya know… I kept his head. It's right there for display above my front door, so everyone can see. So everyone knows what I can do."

The bell rang after she said that, startling Eridan. Phaedra calmly stood up and brushed the hair out of her face for a second, and then let it cover her eye once more. Students filed out of the cafeteria so, to prevent having trolls trample him, Phaedra extended a hand and helped him to his feet. There was still tear residue on his cheeks, which she kindly rubbed off so it didn't look like he'd been crying like a bitch. He muttered thanks, then lowered his gaze and stared at the ground awkwardly.

"So, noww wwhat?"

Not really understanding what he meant, Phaedra simply shrugged. She was about to say something when Vriska smacked her in the back of the head and appeared from behind her.

"Hey losers, what're you up to? A few of them were starting to get worried, but I knew you were gonna be ok. I was right, wasn't I?" she asked, discreetly trying to see if she was right. Phaedra smiled, sensing the concern in her friend's voice, before easing her worries.

"Relax Mindfang, we're good."

"R-Relax? As if, I wasn't even worried," she insisted whilst wearing a cocky grin. Eridan rolled his eyes and started to walk away, but Phaedra grabbed him by the shoulder so he'd stay put.

"Now, where do you think you're going Ampora? You think I'm just gonna confess all that to you, only to have you walk off?" she asked teasingly. Vriska gave her a questioning look, to which she responded with a, "I'll tell you some other time, I gotta go. I'll see you in English, Mindfang."

Satisfied with the name, Vriska agreed to butt out for now, expecting a full explanation seventh period. Once the spider-troll was gone, Phaedra turned to Eridan to ask him what class he was going to. They came to the conclusion that they shared both fifth and sixth period together (Health and Geometry), so they walked to Health together, hands brushing up against each other eagerly along the way.

…

**EmoxRainbows: Alright, now I am going to pull an Andrew Hussie and go back to the point in time in which Phaedra left the room, but his time the scene will take place in the cafeteria. Instead of focusing on Phaedra and Eridan's side, we will discover what the other thirteen had been doing in their absence. Shall we?**

**Random People: Nooooooooooooooooo!**

**EmoxRainbows: Too bad ^u^**

"Where in the ever-loving fuck is she going?"

Vriska turned to Karkat, looking disinterested, and said, "She went to go cheer up the lumpsquirt. Gog, someone needs to just throw him in the looneyblock already so we can get on with our lives."

Karkat scowled at Vriska before saying, "Like you have any fucking room to speak! You blinded Terezi, culled countless trolls to feed your freak of a lusus, crippled Tavros, and harass him because of the disability that YOU gave him! So what, Eridan is a lonely fuckass who whines all the time? At least he isn't a huge bitch!"

The cerulean blooded troll rolled her eyes at his little outburst, not bothering to dignify him with a response which was very rare for her. He'd better be happy she was feeling good-natured right now, or she would've ripped him a new one. No, Lumia was the one who said something.

"Wait, weren't you just yelling at him this morning though? Why are you sticking up for him all of a sudden?"

"Of course I was yelling at him: he was being annoying, but he's still my friend," Karkat said, as if it were completely obvious. Lumia nodded slowly, giving Karkat the impression that she totally understood, but actually being thoroughly confused.

"Damn, you're one complicated troll, ya know that?" Lumia inquired, making Karkat nod curtly in agreement. Lumia giggled at this, causing Karkat to smile. Once he realized he was smiling, though, he regained his grouchy demeanor and chastised himself, _'Fuck, why did I think that was actually cute!?' _But his display of happiness did not go unnoticed by Lumia, who giggled again and rolled her eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with smiling, Karkitty," she stated before munching on her grubloaf. Karkat did the same, surprising himself because he wouldn't usually eat this garbage. But he was in an awkward position, so all hazards had gone out the window. On the other end of the table, Troi chuckled to himself, having watched the whole thing play out: they were so flushed. He began pondering how he would tell Lumia, when Feferi jerked him from his thoughts by asking him a question.

"Hey Troi, can I glub you somefin?"

"You just did," he pointed out with a half-smile. Feferi laughed at his smart-ass-ness before asking her REAL question.

"Do you think I'm a bass person for dumping Eridan?" she questioned seriously. Troi nodded, and then explained his answer, "I don't think so. You just did what you had to, and there's nothing wrong with that. He'll be fine, and so will you. Maybe you two can work on filling your other quadrants in the meantime."

Feferi smiled at Troi, then thought of something she considered devious.

"Huh, I guess you're right. Do you think maybe you could kelp me with that last part," she offered with a wink. Troi laughed whole-heartedly, then, realizing there was some truth behind her words, winked back.

"I think I may be able to, if you're looking for help in redrom."

The girl's cheeks burned fuchsia and her blood pumper nearly stopped, too busy registering what was happening. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a bone crushing hug, squealing out, "Oh cod that would be so fintastic, I'm so EXCITED!"

Troi returned the hug, barely able to whimper a, "Me too."

The fuchsia blood retracted her arms, apologizing repeatedly for nearly breaking every bone in his body. He told her it was no big deal, which she was grateful for. The yellow blood across the table from them groaned aloud, finding their way of displaying affection absolutely revolting.

"Learn thome thubtlety, would ya?" Sollux joked, earning a laugh from the new couple. Aradia looked up at her matesprit and smiled, digging herself even deeper into his side. Troi's attention went back to Feferi as he made a blatant observation, "She doesn't talk much, does she?"

"Whale, she talks in front of Sollux, Kanaya, and Tavros, but other than that? No, naut reelly," she concluded with a frown, "But it's no biggie! Let's talk aboat somefin else."

The smile returned to Feferi's face as her and Troi continued to chat about seemingly random topics. While they continued with their flushed conversing, the two trolls to there right were engaging in a conversation of their own.

"Bro, I could totally just all up and carry you everywhere. Wouldn't put no strain on this here motherfucker at all," Gamzee offered with a grin. Tavros' face turned light brown as he countered with a timid, "Uh that sounds, um, nice and all, but I don't think the, uh… I don't think that's allowed, actually."

Gamzee chuckled at Tavros' nerves, reaching out to ruffle his Mohawk.

"Fuck you're adorable, and this Mohawk of yours is bitchtits my invertebrother. It's just so… Motherfucking fluffy…," he trailed off, lost in the miracle that was Tavros' hair.

"G-Gamzee, you're embarrassing me, and I uh-"

"Shhhhh," Gamzee instructed, pressing his hand to the umber blood's face, "Don't you worry your pretty little think pan about them. They ain't even paying us any attention."

The two of them had been pursuing a Matespritship for a couple weeks, and by now all of their friends knew. As expected, Vriska gave Tavros a hard time for being with Gamzee, but that was ok because it was all worth it. It started because of a little joke Gamzee had made about coming over to rap and maybe make out a little. Tavros hadn't taken him seriously and agreed to both coming over and (without even knowing it) rapping/making out. Gamzee had shown up in his usual attire, only this time he wore a fancy little bow tie (because bow ties are cool) and held a bouquet of roses. Tavros took them, thinking this was all some elaborate joke that everyone but him was in on, no doubt set up by Vriska.

Gamzee had made himself at hive, kicking back on Tavros' lap while busting out rhymes hotter than all the irons. Tavros joined in after a while, happy that he knew someone he could just be a dork with. After they were done with that, Gamzee commented on how 'miraculous' he was and started tracing clown faces on his shirt. This struck Tavros as funny, and when we went to laugh it came out more like a snort. Gamzee, of course, found that extremely motherfucking cute and told Tavros as much, who merely blushed and rejected the compliment. The juggalo became more persistent with his compliments, and Tavros continued to dismiss them all, until finally Gamzee got serious and asked why.

"_Why you gotta all up and say stuff like that Tavbro? Makes a motherfucker sad, knowing something so perfect can think so poorly of itself."_

_Tavros sighed, figuring he owed his friend an explanation of sorts for his behavior. It wasn't like he hated himself or anything, he just didn't really consider himself very special and couldn't begin to comprehend why Gamzee DID._

"_I'm not p-perfect though…"_

"_Course you are! C'mon Tav, look at me," Gamzee demanded with a grin. Once Tavros complied, the high blood grabbed his chin and tilted in upward so their faces were level._

"_Uh Gamzee I… I'm not sure if we-"_

_The clown shushed Tavros and started to lean in, but not before saying, "Well, you're MY motherfucking miracle."_

_And then they kissed. In that beautiful moment, as their unexperienced lips crashed awkwardly against each other, Tavros finally felt that confidence he'd been longing for so long. He wrapped both arms around Gamzee's neck and dug his fingers into his unruly hair while tugging slightly. Gamzee opened his mouth in surprise once his hair had been pulled, which Tavros took as the perfect opportunity to slink his tongue into Gamzee's mouth and explore. Satisfied with the responses he'd been getting, Gamzee mimicked the low blood's actions, causing their tongues to roll off of each other's perfectly. They continued this intricate tango of tongues until Tavros pulled away, gasping for breath. Their eyes met for a second before Tavros looked away: apologizing._

"_You ain't gotta up and apologize Tavbabe, you didn't do a motherfucking thing wrong," Gamzee assured him, forcing him to look into his eyes again. Tavros swallowed and tightened his hold around Gamzee's neck. The juggalo laughed and pulled Tavros close to him, not wanting to ever let go of the troll he pitied most._

"_So uh, are we… Matesprits now?" Tavros questioned, his quiet voice muffled even further by Gamzee's t-shirt._

"_If that's what you want us to be, then ya. I'm already all kinds of happy with just knowing you at all."_

"_Does that mean you… You, um, pity me?" came the next insecure question. Gamzee pressed his forehead against Tavros' and sighed euphorically. _

"_More than I've ever pitied anything in my motherfucking life."_

**A/N: Alright, that's the end of chapter one. I just had to throw some PB&J in there because it's literally the best thing ever. Hope the characters weren't too OOC ^u^**


	2. Adolescence is a Bitch

**I am so proud of myself: I finally learned how to put in the horizontal lines! Ya I know, pathetic... Anyway here ya go ^u^**

Later that day, Phaedra and Vriska sat next to each other in their seventh period. The teacher, who was ironically named Mr. English, was going through the basics of the English language, hoping to prepare them for the lessons that they'd be starting the next day, but the two weren't even listening. They were too busy making plans for all of their friends, who were unaware that they even had any after school. Putting her eye gear to good use, Phaedra started a memo that all of her friends could view, acquiring their troll tags through Vriska.

_**CURRENT cannibalisticReaper [CCR] ****RIGHT NOW opened memo on board HEY WH^T'S UP FUCKERS.**_

_CCR: Hey every*ne!_

_CCR: It's Ph^edr^, in c^se y*u were w*ndering._

_CCR: ^nyw^y, me ^nd Mindf^ng h&ve decided th^t we're ^ll meeting up ^t her hive ^fter sch**l._

_**CURRENT carcinoGeneticist [CCG] ****RIGHT NOW responded to memo.**_

_CCG: SO WE CAN GET EATEN BY HER HUGE SPIDER LUSUS? NO THANKS._

_CCG: I'D RATHER DESECRATE MY PANTS WHILE SIMUTANEOUSLY SINGING LULLIBIES TO DEAD GRUBS._

_CCR: D*n't be such ^ little bitch, y*u're g*ing, ^nd s* is every*ne else. If y*u d*n't sh*w up, Mind f^ng s^ys she'll sick her lusus *n y*u._

_CCG: AND THAT'S ANOTHER THING. WHY DO YOU SUPPORT THAT BULLSHIT FLARP NAME OF HERS? IT'S SO STUPID._

_**CURRENT benevolentPyro [CBP] ****RIGHT NOW responded to memo.**_

_CBP: $er'ously guy$? you couldn't ju$t wa't unt'l $chool wa$ over? we l'terally have twenty more m'nute$_

_CCR: I d* it bec^use it m^kes her h^ppy, ^nd n* Lumi^, I c*uldn't w^it. _

_CCG: OH HEY LUMIA. _

_CCR: S* Lumi^, ^re Y*U g*ing?_

_CBP: duh \(^.^)/_

_CCG: I GUESS I'LL GO TOO._

_CCR: *h re^lly /:3_

_CCG: HEY IT'S ONLY BECAUSE I DON'T WANNA BECOME GRUBLOAF FOR THAT FREAK CUSTODIAN!_

_CCR: Surrrre. Wh^tever y*u s^y K^rcunt._

_CCG: DON'T FUCKING CALL ME THAT!_

_**CURRENT eternalNeutrality [CEN] ****RIGHT NOW responded to memo.**_

_CEN: …ill be there…_

_CEN: …and karkat…try to not be so obvious…_

_CCG: FUCK YOU!_

_**CURRENT cannbalisticReaper [CCR] ****RIGHT NOW banned ****CURRENT carcinoGeneticist [CCG]**** from responding to memo.**_

_CEN: …ha…too easy…_

_CBP: really guy$? that wa$ mean |:_

_CCR: Wh* c^res?_

_CEN: …exactly…_

_**CURRENT caligulasAquarium [CCA] ****RIGHT NOW responded to memo.**_

_CCA: wwhy are wwe meetin there_

_CCR: C^use I s^id s*. I'm ending this mem* bef*re Mr. English c^tches me. We'll meet in fr*nt *f the b^thr**ms *n the first fl**r._

_CCA: i nevver understood wwhy wwe needed three separate bathrooms_

_CCR: Uh, c^use there's ^ fuck t*n *f us?_

_**CURRENT cannibalisticReaper [CCR] ****RIGHT NOW closed memo on board HEY WH^T'S UP FUCKERS.**_

_Meanwhile during seventh period Gym…_

An alert popped up on Equius' glasses as he went to take his shot. The noise shocked him, making him miss the basket completely and hit the wall. The ball popped and left a large dent in the concrete, resulting in a very upset Equius. Nepeta, who could sense his anger, clung onto his arm and meowed.

"AC looks at Equius with large kitten eyes and asks what's wrong," she said, roleplaying during regular conversation like a sensible troll. Her meowrail grimaced and clenched his fists, wishing he was in his hive so he could pummel some robots to alleviate his rage. Nepeta tugged the side of his tank top urgently, trying to distract him from the damage he'd done to the building. The gym teacher, Mr. Slick, didn't bother addressing the issue. He just stood in the corner of the gym and observed the students with a scowl.

"Purrlease don't get upset," the cat troll pleaded, even ceasing her roleplay to show she meant business, "It was just an accident, right?"

Equius nodded stiffly and unclenched his fists, letting his hands hang loosely at his sides. Taking this as a sign to continue, Nepeta nuzzled against his arm and said, "There you go, just calm down and tell me what happened."

"I was trying to make my shot while also controlling the amount of force I was using when that poor excuse for a high blood started a memo. The alert distracted me, causing me to damage the wall. I very much dislike that Phaedra girl: disgracing both her blood caste AND education by trolling in the middle of class. How uncultured," Equius complained to his meowrail, and then, "Thank you for preventing any further damage I may have caused, but you need to be careful. One of these days, your attempts to calm me down may get hurt, and I don't think I could deal with that."

"Awww how sweet, but I'm not worried. I know you would nefur hurt me," Nepeta ensured with a bright smile. Equius returned the expression of amusement, baring the few teeth he had left. He always reserved his smiles for her, knowing how much they meant to the mid-blood, and she knew that. They were the perfect pair of meowrails, and went everywhere with each other. People who didn't know any better often confused them as matesprit's, which led to very awkward denial and shifting in place.

"I do my best to refrain from it, yes, but it still frightens me."

Nepeta was about to express how sweet she thought that was, but a troll behind them interrupted her thoughts.

"Hey d'ere bitches, move yo asses along so we can get ta makin' shots already!"

The mid-blood felt her friend tense up again, and swiftly started brushing her head against him in order to relieve him of anger. He'd already busted his basketball and dented the wall: he didn't need to add murder to the list. Equius disregarded her affections, though, and abruptly turned to face the troll who'd said that. Since she was clinging to his arm, he wound up spinning her in the process. His eyes narrowed at the troll, an umber blood, who looked back at him smugly.

"Forgive me, but I didn't realize that it was the place of rust bloods to order around those superior to themselves," Equius growled, once again balling up his fists.

"An' I din't 'realize' dat a hot little thing like her went for freaky muscle dudes like you," the troll replied, obviously not grasping the severity of his situation. Nepeta buried her face in Equius' arm, preparing herself for what would come. There was nothing she could do at this point other than hope he didn't kill the kid.

"Did you just refer to my Nepeta as a 'hot little thing'?" Equius reiterated: dismissing the 'freaky muscle dude' insult he'd received. Usually he would have reveled in being treated as a lesser being, but he always put defending Nepeta before his weird fetishes, "She is not 'hot', nor is she a 'thing'. She is a beautiful young lady who deserves to be addressed as such, despite how childish she can act sometimes. I'm afraid that if you degrade her again, I'll have to act."

The troll scoffed, and then challenged, "I din't insult the bitch, I was just sayin' she's a nice piece of ass."

Oh fuck no.

Equius charged at the low blood and connected his first with the other's face, sending him flying across the gym. His body clanged against the bright green bleachers and literally sunk into them: a troll shaped hole permanently etched there. After a couple of seconds, the blood pouring out of the troll had tinted the bleacher area around it, mixing into a sick vomit color. The troll's body eased out of the hole eerily, then landed smack on the ground: dead. Mr. Slick simply watched the scene: not bothering to intervene. He absolutely hated these kids, and the only reason he didn't quit was because of Ms. Paint. She was an absolute babe.

"Learn your place you vile low blood scum!" Equius ordered, drenched in sweat and shaking from anger: he still wanted to inflict more damage. Nepeta, seeming to read his thoughts, leapt in front of him with her arms extended. Her eyes begged him to stop and searched for his gaze frantically, finally getting it. Equius stared at her in dismay, wishing she would get out of his way so he could dismantle the trolls hideous physique.

"Nepeta, I must ask you to move."

"No Equius! Just leave the guy alone, he's already dead. Purrlease?" she begged, giving him her best kitten eyes. He melted under her gaze and slumped his shoulders, deciding that she was right.

"I just don't want trolls speaking of you in such a manner: it's so lewd, but if that is what you wish of me, then I will stop."

The olive blood giggled and wrapped her arms around Equius' waist, snuggling into his chest affectionately. She started purring whilst doing so in gratitude that he'd stuck up for her: despite how violent things had gotten. Luckily for him, murder in Alternia is looked upon with favor, especially when a nobility kills a gutter blood. Equius did not return the hug, fearful that he may hurt her, but did smile down at her sweetly and wished she'd look up at him. She did, giving him a mischievous smile.

"AC grins devilishly at her meowrail, pointing out that he called her beautiful."

Equius froze up as the color practically drained from his face, "Oh fiddlesticks.

* * *

School would be over in seven more minutes, but each second that passed by went excruciatingly slow, almost as if time itself were intentionally teasing Karkat. He'd never admit it, but he was looking forward to spending time with all of his friends at Vriska's, even if her lusus scared the ever loving fuck out of him. The twelve of them had been friends before and everything, but they'd never actually hung out as a group. Most of them just hung out with the ones they'd met everyone else through.

For example: the only reason anyone knew Feferi was because of Eridan, who knew Vriska: who knew Terezi, Equius and Tavros, and knew Karkat: who knew Gamzee, Sollux, and Kanaya. Aradia had just sort of come with Sollux, as in knowing him meant directly knowing her. It was sort of like an unspoken agreement. Then there was Nepeta, who met everyone through Equius. He hadn't actually introduced her to his 'friends': seeing as he did his best to avoid them, but she'd gone through his husktop and messaged them, thus commencing the friendship between the twelve trolls. Then came along three NEW trolls who'd befriended the group as well, making their new total fifteen.

Against his worrisome judgment, Karkat actually thought this would be fun. He'd finally get to just hang out with his friends as a whole, just like they did during breakfast and lunch today. If only the stupid clock would go faster!

"Hey, what you all up and nervous about brother?" the juggalo asked his moirail, not really paying attention to their Art teacher: Ms. Paint. Karkat lolled his head to the side and glared daggers at his friend, which Gamzee had expected. He only chuckled, knowing that underneath all that anger, Karkat didn't actually hate him. Hell, he didn't actually hate anyone! Except maybe Vriska, but Gamzee understood: that girl kinda scared him too.

"I am not nervous! I'm just irritated that I have to go to Vriska's hive after school!"

Ms. Paint looked over at Karkat and cleared her throat with such grace that he almost didn't believe she could make such a sound. He straightened himself out in his seat and gave her his full attention, which she was grateful for and said as much in a simple, yet friendly nod. She was such a respectable woman.

After a couple minutes, though, not even Ms. Paint could hold Karkat's attention. His think pan just wanted to wander: much like his moirails did on a daily basis. He started thinking about what it would be like hanging out, figuring that there would be at least one fight. With their group, there always was. It didn't mean they hated each other: they all shared a level of compassion for one another, even the ones they sometimes wished would just die. It was that sense of protection and understanding that held everyone together. That, and Kanaya. It was mostly Kanaya.

She spent so much time managing their relationships that she never really gave her own any thought. Not to mention most trolls would avoid intimate discussions with her. It wasn't that she was ugly or anything, oh no: she was quite beautiful. The issue most trolls had was her intelligence and elegance. She was just the perfect example of a noble lady-troll, and unfortunately, that deterred most. To Karkat, she was the only sane troll he knew, but in that aspect it also made her the strangest.

Only one more minute to go. Then they would wield the weapons they'd stored in their strife specibus and walk to their respective hives or, in this case, Vriska's. They always kept their weapons on hand when roaming Alternia. This way, they could fight against the many dangers that this planted possessed. Personally, Karkat had the sicklekind, in which he used the Clawsickle. It was an advanced weapon, as were all of the weapons his friends equipped.

Equius used fistkind, which only worked for him so well because of how freakishly STRONG he was. His 'meowrail' Nepeta used clawkind with her Action Claws. Tavros had the Fiduspear in his lancekind, Vriska had the Fluorite Octet's in her dicekind, Kanaya had the Demonbane Ragripper in her makeupkind, Terezi had the Dragon Cane in her canekind, Aradia had the Young Whipper Snapper in her whipkind (A/N: I wanted to humor her dreams of becoming an archeologist.), Eridan had the Epiricist's Wand in his wandkind, Feferi had the Psidon's Entente in her 2x3dentkind, and Sollux just used his psionic powers.

Karkat wasn't sure what the other three had, but he wasn't going to fret about it: he was sure that he'd find out eventually. He was about to ponder some more uselessness when the bell rang, and the announcements came on.

"Hello young ladies and gentletrolls! It is your ruler, Calleh Borne. I'm sure you're first day here was as shitty as mine, so I won't go on about how 'fun' the rest of this will be. Instead, let's just get these announcements over with. First order of business, I am proud to say that there were four killings today! These profound murderers were Jezebel Harpe, Ratios Gaskarth, Light Yagami (hehehe), and Equius Zahhak! Ladies, I expect much more out of you tomorrow. Now, onto the boring stuff. The cholerbears are blocking off the pathways to the seas, so some of you will have to strife in order to get back to your hives. A warning for those of you who live in the Mountainous Blue Blood Region: musclebeasts have been spotted in the area, so I advise you to travel with a buddy. If you don't have any friends and you live in that region, then it was nice having you here while it lasted. May you not cry like a bitch when you die. Lastly, I couldn't help but notice that many of you didn't bring supplies today. Make sure to bring them tomorrow, or I'll choose one lucky troll to cull you! Have a terrible night."

And with that the speaker turned off, signaling the official end of the day. Karkat, Gamzee, and the other students filed out of the classroom, the two aforementioned heading to the place they agreed to meet everyone else.

* * *

When they got to the location, there was only one troll missing: Lumia. Finding this odd, Karkat decided to question Feferi, who had drama with her, along with Sollux (who resented it).

"Where did the least insane of the three go?" he asked, implying that Troi and Phaedra were mental: which I mean… Ya. Feferi just shrugged, making Karkat's frown deepen before he continued, "So let me just get this straight: you're telling me that you had last period with her and don't know where she is? Not just that, but shrugging is the response you thought suitable? Seriously people? She is a fucking troll-being you assholes, how can you just act like nothing is wrong when OBVIOUSLY something happened!?"

"Um… Karkat?"

Karkat spun around and stared at the troll in front of him: fuck. He inwardly groaned, palm successfully connecting with his face. He could hear his friends laughing behind him, '_Fuckasses probably set this whole thing up!' _ Lumia ignored his weird behavior and walked over to Phaedra, offering her a purple pen.

"Here it is. I found it in Mr. English's room just lying on a desk. I thought you said you lost it?" Lumia wondered with vague intrigue, more concerned with why everyone was laughing and Karkat was flipping out. Phaedra nudged Troi and put on an insincere smile as she took the pen, "Oh ya! Sorry Karkat, I must've somehow forgotten that I'd asked her to find my pen! Oops, my bad," she apologized in a fake voice, earning a snicker from Vriska. Lumia's face contorted in confusion, wondering why on Alternia he wanted to know.

"I can NOT believe you would do that! Oh wait, ya actually, I can because you're all complete idiots!" Karkat screamed while flailing his arms around. Terezi wailed with laughter, pointing out that, "He sounds sooo adorable right now."

Lumia looked over at Karkat and laughed, deciding that she agreed with Terezi. She was about to ask what happened to make him like this, but Kanaya interrupted, "I don't mean to be rude, but the school is nearly empty now. Shouldn't we be going to Vriska's?"

The group all nodded and murmured their agreement before heading out, Karkat still fuming behind them.

* * *

The trolls had been walking for a total of ten minutes now without a sign of those beasts their 'ruler' had warned them about. Gamzee was sitting in Tavros' lap while he wheeled forward: he'd developed quite the upper body strength, what with being crippled from the mid-thigh and down. They didn't say much to each other, aside from the occasional murmurs, but Gamzee did rest his head on Tavros' shoulder, every now and then planting little kisses on his neck. Kanaya walked with Terezi and Feferi, discussing the latest in troll fashion (which was practically nonexistent). The latter two pretended to care, subtly trying to change the topic. Nepeta rode Equius' back as he walked, going on and on about her latest roleplay with Terezi, who only did it to humor her. Equius remained quiet as he listened, not breaking a sweat (ha, everything else makes him sweat, except physical exertion). Vriska WAS walking with Phaedra, until she urged the indigo blood to go talk to Eridan. Now she was walking with Troi, trying to pry anything she could about her friend out of him. As was mentioned, Eridan walked with Phaedra as the two of them discussed potential quadrant-mates. Eridan wanted to know who she thought would be good with him: in ANY quadrant, even ashen! They briefly discussed who Phaedra considered quadrant-worthy for her, but the majority of the conversation centered around Eridan. Aradia walked alongside Sollux, pretty much doing what Phaedra was doing and listening to him complain. She just smiled and nodded, agreeing with him on every subject and occasionally offering advice and encouragement. That's why they fucking work people! Because Aradia is just cool with his moodiness. Everyone else gets offended, but she's so damn amazing that she STILL understands. Anyway… Lumia hung back with Karkat in silence. She looked at him timidly, unsure if talking to him right now was the best option. Oh fuck it.

"Hey, Karkat..."

He huffed in response and crossed his arms, not bothering with a legitimate answer.

"Look, I don't know what happened back there, but for what it's worth: I'm really sorry," she said, staring at the ground with a pained expression. She hated hurting people, even when she wasn't sure how she did it, or that she played a part in it! The fact that Karkat was showing resentment only made her feel even worse. Her apology had struck something in his blood pumper: however, because when she went to walk away, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

She was surprised, sure, but mostly happy. Karkat may have let go once she was walking next to him, but she didn't mind because he'd held her hand. Briefly, but he still did. She looked at him hopefully, but his facial expression hadn't changed one bit.

"Let's just get to Vriska's without bringing it up, ok?" he more commanded than asked, making Lumia smile. She nodded quickly in approval, asking him what he'd prefer to talk about.

"Nothing."

And so they continued walking in silence, each one glancing at the other from the corners of their eyes. It was nice, awkward, and peaceful until…

"Oh fuck, guyth... We have a problem."

Blocking the path to Mountainous Blue Blood Region was not one, not two, but THERE fucking musclebeasts. They towered over the group dramatically, ranging from at least 15-20 feet tall. The creatures resembled hoofbeasts, minus their incredible physique, glowing red eyes, and monstrous size. The group froze in place: scared shitless.

"Oh cod, water we gonna do!" Feferi exclaimed in a hushed whisper, clinging onto Terezi's arm. Although, it seemed that she wasn't quiet enough, because one of the monsters turned and looked at the group, followed by the other two doing the same. Karkat looked up at the hideous THINGS and stiffened, repeating, "Oh god oh god oh god oh god," until he couldn't summon the proper thinking to continue forming words. The only ones who didn't nearly shit their pants were Equius, Vriska, Phaedra, and Kanaya. They were still frightened, ya, but able to think properly. Ok well, Equius wasn't frightened. He just marveled at them, taking in their 'majestic beauty'.

"Would you guys stop being weaky weaky weakersons and shove it back up your waste chutes already?" Vriska asked, commenting on the fear nearly everyone was experiencing, "These things show up here all the time. Sure, they're super big and I've never actually killed one before, but how hard can it be? I'm sure we can just walk around or some-"

While talking, Vriska had foolishly attempted to 'walk around' the musclebeasts. Needless to say, she didn't get very far, as one on them struck her with its oversized hoof. She flew back and knocked into Kanaya, forcing her down as well. She shot back up, leaving Kanaya to help herself, and glared at the monstrosity.

"Oh it is SO on!"

She took off towards the beast, ready to attack, when something grabbed her jacket and yanked her back: causing her to fall down a second time, which Kanaya stifled a laugh at. Vriska looked up at her assailant and, noticing it was Phaedra, expressed her displeasure, "What the hell! I was trying to attack it!"

"Ya I know, that's why I pulled you back," Phaedra stated with a smirk, then addressed everyone with, "We have about two minutes before those things attack. Intimidation is the first factor to destroying an opponent completely, so they'll just stand there for now. Unless you decide to go around them or charge them," she said while glaring at Vriska, "If you do that, they will attack. We need to figure out who's strong enough to fight, and I don't mean those of you who THINK they're strong. We need the ones that actually are. I ain't gonna risk anyone dying when I just met you guys. Alright, now who here is the most powerful?"

The majority of fingers pointed at Equius, who hadn't ceased staring at the creatures.

"Ugh go figure… Alright Zahhak, get over by me. You're fighting."

Equius snapped back upon hearing his name, and then frowned at the idea of hurting one of these beautiful beings. Sensing his discomfort, Sollux rolled his eyes and provided the noble with a bit of… Initiative.

"Would you get over your creepy muthclebeatht fetithh and fight already? What if one of thothe thingth killed you, or killed Nepeta?" he added, knowing the last part would spark the anger in Equius. Being the genius he was, Sollux had been right in assuming this. Equius strode over next to Phaedra, maintaining distance between the two so he wouldn't be 'tainted'. Phaedra just rolled her eyes at him and asked for another powerful fighter. This time, the fingers all pointed at Vriska who was still resting on her rump.

"Guess you'll be fighting after all. Alright Mindfang, you can help: just don't be stupid and charge at the thing again," the high blood warned her friend. Vriska smirked and stood beside her, assuring her that she'd be even better than fine because she had 'all the luck: all of it'. Once again they repeated the pointing process, signaling Sollux out. He shook his head, refusing to put his life on the line when there was a sobbing Aradia to tend to. She looked up at him: thankful. Again they pointed: picking Kanaya as the lucky candidate. She solemnly nodded and accepted her fate, adding that, "I sometimes hunt the undead during the day with my lipstick, so I suppose this will be similar," before walking over to join the group.

Behind the three, Lumia's Light of My Life (which rested in her flamethrowerkind) had materialized in her hands as she offered her assistance, "If Phaedra is risking her life, then I'll risk mine too!"

"No, you won't."

Phaedra turned and narrowed her eyes at Lumia. The yellow blood persisted, but Phaedra's gaze didn't soften. Then, "Well why the hell not!? I've never even SEEN you fight, so why should you get to and not me!?"

Troi walked over to Lumia and did his best to console her, only managing to cease her shaking in frustration. He just couldn't calm her like he could Phaedra, who continued to glare.

"I just don't want you to get hurt…," she trailed off and looked away: focusing on the beasts that she'd have to defeat in the next thirty seconds, "Troi, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. Everyone else? Hide."

The remaining trolls did as they were told. Troi had to drag Lumia, but the two eventually followed suit as the seconds counted down.

**(A/N: Start playing Resonance by T.M. Revolution that was featured in Soul Eater: it really sets the mood for Kanaya's badassery)**

Five.

'_I can't let them defile my Nepeta.'_

Four.

'_I do hope I die painlessly. Anything else would be horrifying, although, I'm sure pain is exactly what we will all endure. Such a frivolous endeavor.'_

Three.

'_I'm gonna rip those freaks to pieces! That'll teach them to mess with me, don't ya think conscious?'_

Two.

'_Just like old times… Heh, irony is such a bitch.'_

One.

"Alright, let's fucking do this."

The first musclebeast, presumably the leader, charged forward toward the group. The four dispersed and swiftly made their way to the other two musclebeasts. Kanaya let loose a battle cry as she leapt into the air: her tube of emerald lipstick morphing into a demonic-looking chainsaw. The chain connected with the creature's eye and it let out a wail of pain, causing it and the others of its kind to take action. She resumed these actions, striking different areas along the monster's face. The musclebeast who hadn't acted yet trotted towards Equius, who performed a STRONG jump and nailed it right in the mouth. The beast flew backwards and into a mountain, which crumbled atop it. Undeterred, the beast got back up and ran at Equius a second time: head bent in preparation for a head-butt. When it connected with the troll, Equius grabbed the nostrils and forced him to come to a halt. He then picked up the musclebeast by the abdomen and threw it a good thirty feet away. It landed with a large thud, it's majestic form pressed into the solid earth.

Meanwhile, the leader was preoccupied with both Phaedra and Vriska. The latter was about to attack when something distracted her. She looked to her side and saw Phaedra standing still and bowing her head with a single arm outstretched while murmuring.

"Come to me my Adamantite Scythe. Aid me in battle so that we may bathe in their blood!"

A red scythe materialized in the outstretched hand and around it pulsed a black aura. Phaedra continued to look at the ground and stepped forward into a fighting stance: her voice rising as she continued her weird mantra bullshit.

"Allow us to add yet another miscreant to our collection!"

Phaedra shot forward, not waiting for the enemy to attack, and raised her scythe while screaming, "Now… GO FUCK YOUSELF YOU HEINOUS FREAK!"

The metal sunk into the musclebeasts' upper thigh, making the thing cry out in agony. Phaedra used the momentum from the weapon to launch herself further up so that she was standing atop the monster's head. Taking this as a sign to continue, Vriska smirked and nonchalantly shook the fist her dice rested in.

"This is gonna be fun."

She unclenched her fist: letting the dice sprawl out onto the floor. She quickly looked over the dice, seeing a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. It was a pretty good roll and summoned up a large guillotine the perfect size for their enemies.

"Hey Phaedra! When you're done being crazy and slicing that thing's limbs off, you should check this out. It's so cool, I just know you'll love it," Vriska confirmed. Sure enough, the musclebeast Phaedra had been tending to was now missing its hind legs, which laid precariously to the side. Phaedra ignored her, much to her dismay, but Kanaya ceased running her chainsaw through the creature's ear and turned to look to the contraption Vriska had made. Thankful, she gracefully hopped off of the creature and taunted it: bringing it closer to the guillotine. Kanaya effortlessly bound through the hole in the device, seeing as it was large enough, and the musclebeast (not being nearly as intelligent as Kanaya) attempted the same feat: getting its head stuck. Vriska smirked and let the blade loose. It fell down with much force: slicing the head clean off. The two snarky broads cheered and even shared a hug before Kanaya abruptly pulled away, thinking better of it.

Equius calmly walked over to the musclebeast he'd launched several feet and looked it in the eyes. He got out a final, "Forgive me," before gripping the sides of its head and ripping in off. He tossed the head aside and slumped his shoulders, disappointed that such a lovely creature had to die at his hands. How he would've loved to admire the specimen: take in every detail of its rippling body mass, but alas it twas not meant to be.

Behind him, Phaedra had slaughtered the third: all of its limbs were scattered around her form, which was coated in sickly red blood. Her chest heaved as she unequipped her scythe and smiled at Vriska.

"Ya… That thing was pretty damn cool," she managed, making Vriska laugh at her effort. By now Equius had rejoined them, still hanging his head. Nepeta ran from their hiding spot (a small cave etched into the mountain) and hugged Equius, assuring him that there was no other way. The rest that'd been hiding came out and approached the fighters, thanking them for removing the obstacles. Reveling in the attention, Vriska soaked up all the praise.

"Oh it wasn't even a thing, was it Equius?"

He grunted at her, still a bit upset despite Nepeta's consoling. She rolled her eyes at him before continuing to run her mouth about how amazing she was out there. The group all listened for once, deciding she deserved this, as they walked the rest of the way to her hive. Equius hung back with Nepeta who insisted that he stay away from the rest of them until he calmed down, and Phaedra and Kanaya walked alongside each other, complementing each other on their technique. They were the only ones who didn't bother listening to Vriska, but it's not like they should've. Instead they drifted away from the others, letting Vriska bask in the limelight.

* * *

As they walked into Vriska's hive, the cerulean blood pulled out her dice and threw them at the ground, resulting in: 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 8. She fist pumped the air and made an exclamation of joy in getting one of the many combinations she'd been hoping for. This combination wasn't very helpful in battle, but in a situation like this? It was perfect.

Each die morphed into an individual object that would be seen at a party: a table covered in cotton candy, orange creamsicles, Faygo, and cake, a large stereo next to the TV, and two additional sofas. The food was completely edible and in pristine condition, the sofa was a lovely shade of blue, and the stereo was loud enough to wake the rust bloods who lived several miles away. Her friends stared at the additions that'd suddenly appeared in her room for a moment before making themselves at hive. There were now two sofas and a recliner in the room, which were quickly filled by the trolls.

"Why is this filth in here?" Eridan asked whilst pointing at a bottle of Faygo (A/N: I almost couldn't write that: Faygo is just too good!) and grimacing in disgust. Vriska just shrugged, telling him to stop whining and try it. Before he could utter another insult towards the beverage, Gamzee had leapt out of Tavros' lap and sprinted to the table: grabbing a bottle and downing it in seconds.

"Oh motherfuck, thanks! I guess you aren't so bad after all, sis," Gamzee observed, earning a scoff from 'sis' who just strode over to the stereo and played 'Still Alive' from Portal (yes!). A lot of trolls gave her a hard time because she liked the song, considering it clashed with her personality quite a bit, but she didn't care. It was amazing! It even stresses how delicious cake is, I mean, how could someone NOT love it? Vriska has come to the conclusion that those who don't just hate life and should go drown in the ocean.

Gamzee threw the bottle over his shoulder, which landed in Terezi's lap, giving her an excellent idea. She stood up and sat on the floor: setting the Faygo bottle on the floor.

"Get your butts down here! We're gonna play spin the Faygo," she told them with a snicker, knowing that this would be hella fun.

"Oh totally! Hehe I'm so EXCITED, this is gonna be so fun!" Feferi exclaimed while hopping off the couch and onto the carpeted floor. The rest of the group complied, some more willingly than others *cough*Karkat*cough*. Once everyone was settled, Terezi told them the rules, "Alright! So one of us will spin the bottle and kiss whomever the bottle lands on. And don't wuss out, that's no fun!"

And with that, the game commenced! Since she suggested the game, Terezi had to spin the bottle first. It rotated dramatically, drawing everyone's attention, then settled on Vriska.

"No fair! You must've used your weird dice or something, or your stupid luck!"

"Why would I want to kiss YOU? If I was going to cheat, I'd try for Phaedra. I may not be flushed for her, but I wouldn't mind messing around," she proudly admitted, winking at Phaedra. The indigo blood laughed and thrust into the air with her pelvis, then returned the wink, making Terezi want to puke.

"Oh gog please stop, let's just get this over with," Terezi complained before quickly giving Vriska a peck on the lips to silence her. Vriska laughed at Terezi's embarrassment and spun the bottle for herself: landing on Gamzee.

"Eh, why not?"

Vriska balled her fist in Gamzee's shirt, pulled him towards her, and pressed her lips to his for a few seconds before pulling away. Gamzee smirked and spun the bottle, deciding she wasn't even scary anymore. The plastic container pointed at Karkat once it stops, making the midget frown and shake his head.

"Oh fuck no. Gamzee, that is NOT happening!"

"Oh come on bro, it's just one little kiss," Gamzee offered, grabbing the back of Karkat's head and forcing their lips together. Karkat struggled against him, finally free after the most brutal seconds of his life. He begrudgingly spun the wretched bottle, wiping his lips desperately with the sleeve of his sweater. It stopped on Phaedra, whose expression pretty much said it all: this ain't fucking happening buddy. Karkat couldn't agree more, but a game was a game, and he knew there was no way out of it, as did she.

Phaedra, being on the other side of the circle from him, leaned forward with her lips pursed and eyes closed. Karkat did the same, each inching towards each other until…

Their lips grazed for a split second, and each of them retracted with incredible speed, wiping their lips and being overdramatic as hell. Phaedra, happy that was over with, spun the bottle and hoped for the best. The bottle stopped on Vriska, who looked at her in a way that could only be described as suggestive. Phaedra returned the look and curled her fingers through Vriska's lovely hair. Vriska's hands rested on her waist as their lips met and, being who they were, they didn't stop there. Each was eager and parted their lips happily, tongues darting in and battling for dominance. This battle of tongues lasted a few seconds before they decided: oh fuck it, who even cares? They're lips molded together as the appendages mapped out each other's mouths, taking in every last detail before pulling away, each girl wearing a large grin when they got back in their spots.

"Holy fuck…," Troi murmured, voicing everyone else's thoughts perfectly. Vriska ignored their stares as she spun the bottle: landing on Kanaya. The fashionable girl offered a half-smile as she gently kissed Vriska's lips, then pulled away with a faint blush and spun the bottle for herself. It settled on Tavros, who immediately started blushing a deep brown color. Kanaya smiled at him to calm his nerves and ran her dainty fingers through his Mohawk, then pressed her lips against his tenderly. Grateful for the care she'd taken to cease his worries, Tavros kissed back in thanks. Kanaya then went back to her spot, in which Tavros spun the bottle himself. It aligned with Equius, who gave one of the most fucked up looks imaginable. Like, I'm not even sure how to describe it. It's just one of those 'oh fuck there is no way this is happening' mixed with 'seriously why me' kind of faces that nobody really notices when you make.

Equius inched forward, seeing as Tavros couldn't move right now (I'm not gonna make him freaking crawl :/), and hesitantly touched his lips to Tavros'. Once the realization of kissing a low blood kicked in, Equius practically flew backwards and settled in his seat. Terezi laughed her ass off at this, rolling around on the floor while Equius spun the bottle. It landed on his moirail, making his whole fucking face turn blue. She smiled up at him and crawled in his lap, making him start to sweat from the situation they were in. Nepeta wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him flush on the lips, then rubbed her head against his cheek. She grabbed a towel from her sylledex (she always kept towels there just for him) and dabbed away the sweat while humming, making Lumia and Phaedra nearly pass out from fucking sweetness.

Once she was done, she spun the bottle and it landed oh Phaedra who smiled broadly: she was gonna kiss a cat troll! #dreamsdocometrue

Nepeta crawled over to Phaedra with her tail wide in the air, making the indigo girl 'awww' uncontrollably. They pressed their lips together for a total of seven seconds before Nepeta retraced her steps, snuggling back into Equius lap. Equius just looked down at her and continued to blush like crazy. Phaedra flicked the lid of the bottle, and it rotated until it stopped on Eridan. The sea dweller blushed and turned his head away.

"Um… I havven't evver kissed nobody before."

Phaedra laughed and placed her palm against his cheek.

"I figured as much, Ampora."

She rubbed her thumb against his cheek and rested her forehead against his. He whispered something about wanting his first kiss to be with someone who cared about him, and Phaedra nodded before connecting their lips. Eridan rested his arms on her shoulders and dug his nails into her back, making her moan into the kiss. She pulled away smiling softly only to find him staring at her like SHE was a musclebeast or something. Phaedra snickered, knowing she pretty much blew his mind, and sat back in her spot. With shaking hands, Eridan spun the bottle: pointing right at Lumia. She blushed before pressing her lips against his, glad this wasn't HER first kiss. That would be a bit… Disappointing. She pulled away and giddily spun the bottle, hoping against hope for…

Eeyup, Karkat.

The both of them froze and stared at the bottle, too scared to look up.

"Oh come on already!" Vriska shouted, earning her scowl from Karkat. The midget slowly looked at Lumia and tried to shrug it off, but wound up looking like he had epilepsy or something. Lumia giggled and cupped Karkat's face. Bringing it to hers, she closed her eyes and passionately pressed her lips to his. He pressed back and laid his hands on her legs (ya, he's positioned doggy style right now). Lumia tore away from him and grinned when she saw him looking at her in awe. Deciding maybe one more wouldn't hurt; she pecked him on the lips again before letting go of his face and scooting away. Karkat curled into a ball in his spot, opting to stay out of the rest of the game.

Because of this, the group selected Feferi to spin. She happily complied, twisting the plastic around until it stopped and aligned with Sollux. He grinned at her, looking very much like a super sexy nerd right now, and she shot forward and kissed him: savoring every moment of it. Sure, they both had matesprits, but it wasn't like this was infidelity. But fuck, did it feel nice.

Feferi bounced back to her seat as Sollux spun the bottle, landing on Terezi who smiled mischievously and licked his face. For some reason, everyone was totally cool with considering this 'kissing', and Terezi got to spin. The bottle landed on Aradia, who widened her eyes in fear of being licked. Thankfully, Terezi had decided to actually kiss her. Like for real. Their lips met and, when it was over, Aradia bit Terezi's bottom lip teasingly, making the other recoil cautiously. Sollux laughed and wrapped his arm around Aradia's waist.

"Ya she'th into thome freaky thtuff," he said with a wink. Gamzee laughed and took a sip of his Faygo, which he'd gotten at some point during their game.

"I hear that motherfucker!"

Tavros blushed and shrank into himself, knowing that Gamzee was hinting at what HE liked. He may have been shy and everything, but Gamzee just gave him this confidence he couldn't explain and, with this newfound confidence, a few… Fetishes, arose, and I'm talking some seriously dominant and possessive stuff. Troi looked at the boy and quirked an eyebrow, knowing by now that he was with the clown guy. Huh, cute.

Aradia quietly spun the bottle which settled on Troi. A little shocked, considering it hadn't landed on him before, Troi's face contorted in confusion. He looked at the maroon blood, deciding she was definitely going to be fun to kiss, and smirked. She blushed and pressed their lips together, but when Troi thought it would be over, she pressed her palm against his nook and sucked his tongue into her mouth. THEN she stopped, winking at Troi as she went back to her spot by Sollux, who didn't really seem to mind.

Terezi rolled her eyes and grabbed the bottle.

"Ok guys, we're done. If we keep doing this, Aradia is gonna wind up raping someone."

The rest of the trolls agreed, pretty much freaked the fuck out by what just happened. By now, 'Still Alive' was long over, so Vriska decided to play a group of songs from her playlist starting with 'Dead Girl Rock' (love this song).

"Alright guys, shut up a second. Since I'm such a good person, you guys can stay at my hive for the rest of the day. It'll be light out soon, so make yourselves at hive," Vriska offered while munching on some cotton candy. The group let out a cheer, stood up, and started mingling!

* * *

"Has anybody seen Kanaya, Sollux, or Aradia?" Karkat yelled. He was pretty sure Aradia was with Sollux, so he wasn't too worried about that, but Kanaya? He had no clue where she could be. When he received no answer, he opted to look for her himself: checking the room's in Vriska's huge hive. After searching for ten minutes (not a very avid searcher), he finally stumbled upon the jade blood. Only, not in a situation he was comfortable with.

Sollux was using his twin bulges to fuck both Kanaya and Aradia while stroking their bulges as well. Kanaya and Aradia were making out and groping one another, oblivious to the midget in the doorway, but Sollux saw him. He smirked devilishly and nodded his head towards the two girls, wordlessly asking Karkat if he wanted to join in. Ya um, Karkat didn't want to.

He slammed the door and ran back to where everyone was still having a fun ol' time, completely unaware of what was going on between the three. Can they even do that? Isn't that some kind of infidelity or…?

"Hey, where'd ya go?"

Karkat turned and looked at Lumia who looked back at him quizzically. He shrugged and told everyone he was going to sleep, to which they groaned. The hive only had three recuperacoons, which meant only three trolls could go to sleep today. Admittedly though, most didn't feel like sleeping today. Karkat waved goodbye and then trudged upstairs to Vriska's respiteblock, crawled into the recuperacoon, and fell asleep.

After Karkat went to bed, Eridan, Phaedra, Gamzee, and Tavros all stood (or sat) in a circle: eating cotton candy and/or drinking Faygo. The clown was laying in Tavros' lap like usual and palming the low bloods Mohawk in amazement, while the recipient of this attention was talking with the two high bloods in front of him.

"I don't really mind if he sits here… I mean, um… It's no big deal… And it makes him happy," Tavros stated, responding to Phaedra's question: why do you always let him sit in your lap?

"Well that's sweet," she claimed with a wink. Eridan crossed his arms and pouted, wishing he had somebody to pity like that. It just wasn't fair for him to be all alone when that stupid lower blood got someone! Phaedra, noticing the pout, elbowed Eridan in the side.

"Hey!"

"Well that's what you get grub fucker!"

"Grub fucker? Wwhat the fuck!?"

"I called you a grub fucker, so what?"

"Wwhat the fuck do you evven mean? I havven't evvn seen a grub my wwhole life you distasteful vvermin!"

"Oh really, that's what I am? Listen buddy, at least I ain't sitting here pouting when my friend is trying to answer another friend's question. You could at least PRETEND to be happy for them!"

"An' you could at least shut your catinous wwindhole and stop bein' such a bitch all the time!"

"I ain't a fucking bitch you bulge sucking reject!"

"You think I'M the reject!? If it wweren't for your friend Troi, evveryone wwould DESPISE YOU! YOU'RE NOTHIN' BUT A FUCKIN' MURDERER!"

Eridan screamed the last part, loud enough for everyone to hear, but only a couple trolls actually looked over. By now, Tavros had rolled away with Gamzee: feeling awkward and wanting no part in the arguing. Phaedra looked at the sea dweller with disdain, still not fully grasping what just happened. Was that really all she was to him? Noticing the dramatic shift of attitude play out on her face, Eridan's own anger subsided, replaced with confusion. Not 'confusion for why she was sad', but 'confusion for why he even cared'. She was just some land dweller that he spent time with because she insisted on helping him. No other reason than that, right?

"Phae I'm… I di'nt mean it, I-"

"Ya… Ya you did mean it, but that's ok," Phaedra corrected, offended that he would lie to her like that, "It doesn't matter. None of this does. What, did you think I actually cared about what you said? As if! We've only known each other for a day; your opinion couldn't possibly mean less to me. YOU couldn't possibly mean less to me!"

The violet blood gawked at her, not believing what she just said.

"But wwhen wwe wwere playin' the game you… You nodded… Right before you…"

"I lied."

With that, she left: indigo tears streaming down her face, leaving Eridan the way he's always been.

Alone.

* * *

"Alright, what was that all about?" Terezi asked as she approached Vriska. The cerulean blood raised an eyebrow, unsure what her former Flarp partner was talking about.

"With you and Phaedra…?" she added, figuring that would spark Vriska's memory. It did, and Vriska's face lit up at the memory.

"Oh ya, that. What about it?" the noble questioned nonchalantly, as if what happened was completely normal for two friends. Terezi groaned at her friends stubborn behavior, thinking that Vriska was just being difficult to upset her, "I mean why did you make out with her!"

Still not seeing the big deal, Vriska shrugged and said cause. Well, this answer didn't really work for Terezi, who persisted.

"Why did you want to dammit!?"

"None of your freaking business, Redglare!" she said, raising her voice a little and referring to Terezi with her Flarp name to show how annoyed she was getting with the situation. Finally realizing what was going on here, Terezi smirked triumphantly.

"Oh gog, you're waxing red aren't you!"

**There we go. Bet many of you have noticed that the number three is featured quite a bit. It's pretty much a constant in this story. Damn, I just love the number three ;u**


	3. In Which More Drama Unfolds

_**caligulasAquarium [CA] ****began trolling ****arachnidsGrip [AG] **_

_CA: hey can you do me a favvor _

_AG: You're literally ten feet away from me, can't you just come over here and ask? Or am I just too intimid8ing for that ;;;;)_

_CA: as if i just dont wanna talk to anyone right noww _

_AG: Oh really? Then why 8other me?_

_CA: because youre the only one wwhom i can ask for help_

_AG: Well duh. I'm glad you finally came to your senses ::::)_

_AG: So what is it you need? I'm VERY 8usy ya know? What with having all the irons in the fire: and I do mean all of them._

_CA: oh wwhatevver _

_CA: youre just standin there talkin _

_AG: Oh, now you're watching me? What a creepy creepy creep!_

_CA: wwould you just help me already wwithout any a youre BS_

_AG: Fine. What do you want?_

_CA: could you talk to phae for me_

_AG: Why would I do that? You just called her a murderer, dummy! She 8nt gonna want to hear from you._

_CA: oh_

_CA: you heard that_

_AG: I'm pretty sure everyone did._

_CA: oh god_

_AG: You defin8ly deserve this. Allllllll you ever do is yell at her!_

_CA: wwell shes the one wwho called me a grub fucker_

_AG: A gru8 fucker? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! _

_CA: i think she wwas joking noww but at the time i wwas mad_

_AG: Oh really? I couldn't tell._

_CA: just talk to her_

_AG: Ugh, fine. I'll talk to her for you._

_AG: 8ut you owe me ::::P_

_**arachnidsGrip [AG] ****ceased trolling **_**_caligulasAquarium [CA]_ **

Vriska sighed aloud, finally addressing Terezi's earlier accusation so she could end the conversation and do Eridan's pathetic bidding.

"Of course I don't! It's not MY fault she's attractive. Maybe you could learn a few things from her. Heck, I may even take an interest in you then," she finished with a wink. Terezi groaned and walked away, fed up with Vriska already. The cerulean blood smirked triumphantly: Terezi had done exactly what she'd wanted. Now she could search for her friend without anyone becoming suspicious and questioning her about her motives. How preposterous of Terezi to even think she was flushed! I mean honestly, she could be so dumb sometimes with all of her meddling. All of her bugging and fussing and meddling. Who even does that?

Thinking of a certain jade blood she knew, Vriska began the long and perilous journey that was searching her hive.

...

Kanaya strode into the room calmly, looking for the newest matesprit couple. She scanned the crowd until she located them: sitting together on one of the couches and talking to Equius and Nepeta. She grinned and headed in their direction, picking up bits and pieces of their conversation the closer she got.

"So you seriously just killed that guy?" Troi asked the indigo blood in awe. The recipient nodded, leaving most of the explaining to Nepeta who was lying across his lap and pawing at his hair.

"The guy was being a meanie, so Equius punched him so hard that he flew across the room! Then he hit the floor and was just kinda… Dead! Mr. Slick just stood there the whole time and watched," Nepeta explained with a wide grin. Feferi gasped at this, burying her head into Troi's arm. He smiled sweetly at her and stroked her hair to soothe her.

"But krilling is just so mean!" she sobbed, tyrian tears soaking her matesprit's sweater. He doesn't mind, though, and continues his ministrations until all that's heard is the occasional sniffle. She looks up at him with a bright smile and kisses his cheek in gratitude.

"Oh you're the basst matesprit I could ever ask for!" she exclaimed while wrapping her arms around his neck and rewarding him with yet another bone crushing hug. She was about to shower him with more praise, but behind them someone cleared their throat. The two turned to see Kanaya standing there in all of her glory: offering a humble smile.

"Hello. I do hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I've an urgent message from Sollux and Aradia. They request the presence of both of you in the relaxation room on the second floor."

The couple exchanged glances and stood up: excusing themselves from the 'meowrails' they'd been talking to. They thanked Kanaya and made their way to the second floor in search for the living room. They came upon a large oak door, and when they opened it, the two that'd requested they meet were sitting together on a large sofa positioned in the back of the room. There was a large hot tub in the center of the room, a second couch facing the first, and snack bar against the right wall. Feferi waved EXCITEDLY at the two, unlacing her fingers from Troi's. He offered a small wave as well, to which the other two smiled.

"Thankth for coming guyth. Me and AA have thomething that we'd like to dithcuthh with you two," Sollux informed them with a grin. Aradia nodded happily and laid her head comfortably on Sollux's shoulder, "Go on, thit down."

The two complied and sat across from the other couple. Once they were situated in their seat, Sollux continued.

"Letth jutht get to the reathon you're here. Me and Aradia are what motht refer to ath thwingerth. Do you know what that meanth?"

Troi and Feferi nodded, unsure of what the word meant. You see, swingers are VERY rare in Alternia because of infidelity issues. Most matesprits aren't ok wit sharing, so the idea of sleeping with another troll is pretty much nonexistent.

"Swingers are couples that sleep with other couples," Aradia explained slowly, worried that the other two might reject the idea outright. When they stayed put, she continued, "As Sollux mentioned, we are swingers and we've taken a liking to you two in particular."

Feferi's eyes widened as she realized what this meant. Troi, having understood once Aradia explained what swingers were, just smiled and wrapped an arm around Feferi.

"Tho, wanna fuck?" Sollux asked without any consideration or caution whatsoever. Aradia glared at him, then focused on the other two with an apologetic smile, "Excuse him, he's just a bit straight forward with these kinds of things."

Sollux shrugged: not really caring. He didn't like playing games when it came to this stuff. He thought it was better to just come right out and ask. It saved them a lot of time. Feferi looked at Troi nervously and, seeing the smile on his face, asked him if he really wanted to do this. He nodded and kissed her lips reassuringly. Feferi smiled, still a bit nervous. She'd never pailed with anyone before, so this was all completely new to her.

Completely disregarding that this might be someone's first time, Sollux and Aradia walked over to them, not waiting to start. Ha, eager much? Sollux surprisingly started with Troi, sitting in his lap and planting little kisses on his neck: every now and then biting the skin and licking it, almost like an apology. Aradia began with a much different approach, stroking Feferi's cheek and kissing her flush on the lips. Her tongue grazed against Feferi's bottom lip, kindly asking for her submission. Feferi quickly allowed it and parted her lips: allowing Aradia to ease her tongue inside and explore the sea dwellers mouth. Feferi hesitantly mimicked Aradia's actions and rolled her tongue along the maroon bloods. Meanwhile, Aradia used the hand that wasn't cupping Feferi's face to fondle her large breasts. Feferi moaned and reached her hands up Aradia's shirt: running her hands across every inch of flesh she could reach.

By now Sollux had removed Troi's shirt and was nibbling his chest and abdomen, sucking against the grey skin and leaving bright green marks in his wake. Troi's fingers intertwined with the mustard bloods hair: tugging every time Sollux bit into him. The nerd moved further down, tugging at Troi's jeans with his teeth. He unbuttoned the pants and pulled them down so Troi was just boxer clad. There was a wet spot on the boxers, meaning his nook was already leaking genetic material. Sollux snickered and pressed his pronged tongue against Troi's heat through the annoying fabric. The latter moaned as Sollux moved his tongue along the folds teasingly, willing his bulge to unsheathe. The olive green organ did and wiggled out from the fabric. It twisted around in the air desperately while searching for something to grab ahold of.

Sollux removed all of his clothes and revealed that his dual bulges were already unsheathed and twisting around each other. He hovered over Troi and pressed their lips together before removing Troi's boxers and willing one of his bulges into the olive bloods awaiting nook. The other wound itself around Troi's bulge as Sollux thrust forward into his tight nook. Troi pulled Sollux back to him and indulged in the taste of his nook on the others lips, tongues quickly shooting into the others mouths and caressing the others appendages. Sollux continued to thrust forward while his matesprit took care of her little toy.

Aradia pulled down Feferi's skirt and panties to find that the tyrian blood's bulge was unsheathed and damn was it huge. The low blood had planned on doing the same as Sollux and pound Feferi's nook, but the size of this fuchsia appendage beckoned to her: she needed it inside her. She sweetly removed Feferi's goggles and shirt, peppering the other with little kisses along her face. She proceeded to remove her own clothes and, once they were thrown to the side, she stood there a moment: allowing Feferi to take her in. Aradia just loved showing off.

The maroon blood smirked and positioned herself on top of Feferi. Pressing their foreheads together, Aradia slammed herself down onto Feferi's bulge and cried out in ecstasy. Fuck this thing was huge, but she WAS royalty, so it made sense. Once the tentabulge was fully inside her, Aradia's own bulge unsheathed and pressed itself against Feferi's chest. Feferi smiled at the neglected bulge and was quick to wrap her hand around it and stroke. Aradia moaned as she rode Feferi: grateful for the attention. The sea dweller sped up her pumping, willing Aradia to cum on her breasts. She wasn't sure why, she just knew that's where she wanted it.

Sollux was thrusting spastically now, nearing his climax. Troi sensed this, but didn't mind: he was close as well. The two boys continued their tango of tongues (love that wording) as Sollux slammed into him harder than before, releasing all of his yellow fluids into Troi's awaiting nook. He continued thrusting as he rode out his orgasm until Troi came as well: green fluid squirting onto Sollux's body and mixing with the yellow that was already there. The two panted while Sollux pulled out and walked behind the couch he'd been sitting on with Aradia. He came back with two buckets, the second presumably for the girls. He got down on his knees and held the bucket below Troi's nook as both their bulges went back to hiding. He flicked the green nub above the nook and all the yellow material leaked out into the metal pail.

To their right, Aradia bounced up and down in Feferi's lap while moaning like a whore. Sollux positioned the bucket at Feferi's feet before him and Troi climbed into the hot tub to wash away the rest of the mess: both of them just chatting like normal. Feferi's hand jerking became more unsteady by the second.

"Aradia I'm gonna cum! Oh cod, I just can't glub any longer!" she warned. Aradia nodded and told her she was going to as well. True to her word, dark red was soon splattered all over Feferi's breasts and leaking from between her legs. As her nook clenched around Feferi's bulge, the extra friction drove Feferi over the edge and she came into Aradia's nook. The maroon blood fell to the side: both of them spent and their bulges resheathing. Aradia smiled at Feferi as she kneeled over the pail, repeating what Sollux had done and allowing her fluids to fill the bucket. She grabbed Feferi's hand and kissed her cheek, leading her to the hot tub with the guys. They climbed in together, positioned so that Feferi was sitting in Aradia's lap.

"So you guys do this with other couples like all the time?" Troi asked: dumbfounded. These two definitely knew how to live.

"No. The only troll who'll let uth do thith ith Kanaya," Sollux admitted with a sigh, "But if you two are up for thith again…?"

Feferi nodded eagerly, making Aradia laugh underneath her. The low blood wrapped her arms around Feferi's waist and kissed along her shoulder tenderly. Troi grinned at Sollux and nodded too.

"Thweet."

The four continued talking for the rest of the day, just chilling it the hot tub and suggesting different ways to go about doing this again. Only this time, they'd make sure Kanaya joined in too.

…

Vriska trudged up the stairs that led to the third floor of her hive with a frown. Why was she even helping Eridan? He was a jerk to her last night in the cafeteria, and he was a jerk to her here, and yet… He still cared? It made no sense. At first she figured that they would be Kismesis or something sense they argued a lot, but there was still that weird fondness they had towards each other. It just wasn't right for people to flush that fast, so it couldn't be that they pity each other. Could it?

Although, Troi and Feferi were matesprits already and seemed happy together, so she guessed it made sense that they could be waxing red already. There was just something about this coupling in particular that messed with Vriska's think pan. Shaking off the thoughts continuing to fuck with her, she reached the top floor and started checking every room. She stood in front of the door to her respiteblock, figuring Phaedra would be in here of all places. She slowly opened the door and there, sleeping in her recuperacoon, was…

Fucking Karkat.

"Karkat what the hell!" Vriska yelled at the midget troll who awoke very startled. He frantically looked around the room, his eyes finally settling on the intruder. Said eyes narrowed in anger at being awoken so abruptly.

"Get out of my respiteblock asshole!" she continued yelling, think pan blown that he was even in here. What made him think this was even ok? Karkat climbed out of the recuperacoon groggily and fell on his face. Vriska laughed as he got back up and glared at her. He growled something incomprehensible and brushed past Vriska, deciding to just go back downstairs so he could avoid her.

Vriska stood there for a second, not really sure what the fuck just happened. Deciding to just play if off, she continued her search for Phaedra. Finally, after five more minutes of this, she stumbled upon said friend laying on the floor and watching TV even there was a perfectly good recliner behind her. Vriska walked into the room and closed the door behind her, but Phaedra paid her no mind. There was a jar of sopor slime on the floor next to her head. Vriska observed her friend closer and noticed the dried streaks of indigo on her face, making her want to fucking cull Eridan for hurting the noble.

"Hey…," Vriska offered, trying to get Phaedra to look at her, "Eridan is such an asshole, ain't he?"

When she received no answer, she decided to get closer and sat next to Phaedra's form. Feeling a bit awkward, she continued, "I don't get why you're even upset about this, I mean… There ain't anything wrong with killing a couple trolls, right?"

Phaedra turned herself so that now her head was now laying in Vriska's lap and finally spoke, "It was more than a couple."

Happy that her friend was talking and surprised that she was now in her lap, Vriska tentatively laid her hand on Phaedra's arm and rubbed. Thinking about what the indigo blood said, Vriska thought out loud, "So what? It's not like killing a lot of people makes you a bad person. I'm sure you had a good reason."

Although, now Vriska wasn't too sure about that. The situation reminded her of the countless trolls she'd killed to feed her lusus, but… She'd had to do that. There was no way around it.

"I did. I don't feel bad about killing them, but when he called me a murderer it kind of… Hurt," Phaedra whispered, allowing Vriska to touch her. Figuring this was a better time than any, Vriska decided to ask her about what happened.

"Who did you kill? And why did Eridan know and now me? I'm way more understanding then his tight ass," she stated with a grin. It was so true.

"Long story short, some asshole killed my lusus so I killed him, but I didn't stop there. I killed everyone he cared about too. Well, almost everyone… The asshole's Kismesis managed to calm me down and now we're moirails. Weird how shit works like that," she explained with a smirk. Putting two and two together, Vriska figured out that this person was Troi.

"So Troi knows too? Who else knows?"

"You."

Vriska grinned and started running her fingers through Phaedra's hair. So there was only three, and she was one of them huh? She could live with that. While thinking, Phaedra had sat up and was now looking at Vriska.

"Hey Mindfang?"

Smiling at the name, she asked what Phaedra wanted, more than a little disappointed that she'd sat up.

"Thanks," she said simply, leaning over to kiss Vriska's cheek. Vriska's face turned cerulean, but she shrugged and did her best to play it off like it was no big deal. The spider troll stood up and headed to the door, hoping her friend wouldn't notice the blush. She did, but pretended not to and waved. Vriska did the same and left the room, closing the door behind her. The moment the doors were sealed, Vriska sprinted downstairs, wanting to be as far away, and yet, as close to her new friend as possible.

…

"Wwell, wwhat did she say?" the sea dweller asked impatiently once Vriska entered the room.

"Calm down would ya? Were you seriously just standing here waiting for me to come back? You're so lame! So lamey lamey lame," she insulted, agitated by his presence. He scoffed and asked again, growing agitated as well.

"She said that she doesn't feel bad about killing them. Or at least she didn't until YOU said something about it! Honestly, she should've just told me sooner instead. At least I wouldn't have judged her like you did."

"Ok yes, I knoww I wwas a bad person for announcin' that like I did, but did she say anythin' else?" he persisted, becoming desperate for answers. Vriska smirked and said, "Ya, then she laid her head in my lap and told me about how her lusus got killed. And right before I left she kissed me!" Vriska boasted, leaving out the part about it just being on the cheek. She still wasn't lying, technically. Eridan's face softened to the point of sorrow when she told him this.

He nodded in understanding and told her he was going to go to bed for the day. She told him whatever and he left, not really planning on going to sleep. He was going to find Phaedra and ask her if Vriska was telling the truth or not. He already knew she was somewhere on the third floor because he'd seen Vriska walking down the large spiral staircase that led directly up there, so he hurriedly ascended the steps two at a time, his purple cape flowing behind him.

…

He found her lying on the floor in front of a recliner with a jar of sopor slime while she watched a movie. Her head jerked in his direction, but once she saw it was him she frowned and turned back towards the film. He ignored her obvious antipathy and sat near her head, moving the jar out of the way. She grunted and shimmied away a bit.

"Look, I'm really sorry about wwhat I said! I knoww you're mad at me, but can you at least say somethin'?" Eridan pleaded, unable to tolerate the silence. Phaedra just stared at the TV and said, "Ok, how about fuck you?"

Not really what he'd been expecting, Eridan just frowned in defeat. He was about to stand up and leave when the tone in her voice shifted dramatically.

"I'm watching 'In Which A Girl Goes to A Cabin in the Woods with Her Friends to get Over an Addiction, but Winds Up Being Possessed and Kills Said Friends' in case you were wondering. You're welcome to watch it with me… If you want."

Eridan allowed himself to smile and directed his attention towards the screen. A girl was in the woods and for some reason vines were slithering up her nook. Weird. His body was covered in goosebumps because of this scene and he let out a little whimper: he wasn't very fond of horror movies, despite his genocidal thoughts. Phaedra noticed this and added, "Come here."

She stood up, grabbed the jar, set it on the small table next to the recliner, and sat in the oversized chair which her legs spread wide open. Eridan gawked at her, pretty freaked out by how fast things were moving between them.

"Phae I don't knoww if I'm ready for that and-"

"We're not having sex you moron! Get over here and sit down before I change my fucking mind," Phaedra ordered with an eye roll. Embarrassed beyond belief, Eridan blushed and sat between her legs. He leaned back into her and smiled, content with just being close to her, but then he remembered what Vriska said.

"Hey did you really kiss Vvriska er… Mindfang?"

"Oh that? Um ya," Phaedra confessed with a laugh, "If you're jealous, I guess I could kiss your cheek too."

"Wwait… You only kissed her cheek!?" Eridan fumed. God damnit, of COURSE she left that part out!

"Ya dude, that's it. Now can you shut up? I wanna watch this fucking movie."

Eridan did as he was told and decided to focus on said movie. Phaedra wrapped her arms around his waist did the same, having to tilt her head to the side because he was considerably taller than her. Every now and then, specifically during a 'scary' part, Eridan would flinch into her form and she'd have to reassure him it wasn't real. This continued until near the end of the movie, when Eridan finally just fell asleep. Phaedra smiled and took a scoop of sopor out of the jar, but before rubbing it on his face (yes this works to deter nightmares) she strained her head up and kissed his cheek.

"There ya go you big wriggler," she said, knowing he couldn't hear her, while slathering the green ooze on his face. She repeated the process on her own face and soon fell asleep as well.

…

It'd been about ten minutes since Vriska had kicked him out of her recuperacoon and forced him to socialize again. Karkat had trudged downstairs, stumbling and falling down the last five, before finally rejoining his friends in the first floor living room. Jegus, why did she even need so many floors? Karkat had spent the majority of these ten minutes lying face down on the couch groaning while Nepeta did something adorably sick to Equius on the other couch across from him. God, would they just can it and become matesprits already? It's just so annoying.

Now Karkat was standing against the wall by the stereo sipping some of that nasty as shit Faygo. He wasn't going to bother with the liquid, but he was parched, and there weren't any other options. He observed all of his friends with a passive glare, making a mental note that the majority of them still just remained in clusters. He pondered this for a bit until one of his friends decided to finally acknowledge his presence.

"Hey Karkat, you doing any better?" she asked with a concerned tone. Karkat looked over at Lumia and nodded, feeling better simply because she was here. Oh wait, what? No that wasn't right… Fuck.

"Well that's good…," she trailed off, already out of conversation material. Karkat stared at her being all awkward and stuff and couldn't help but grin. It wasn't anything to write home about, considering only one corner of his lips was up, but it was still an expression of happiness nonetheless. Lumia noticed his effort and smiled back, figuring she must've done something to make him so ecstatic!

"Sorry about just leaving earlier. I just walked in on some shit that made me want to scoop out my fucking eyes!" Karkat raised his voice for the last sentence, then shrank into himself figuring he would scare Lumia off. She just laughed at his anger, pretty much blowing his little think pan. He said as much, asking her, "Why do you just laugh? Does me being upset just excite you in some fucked up way like Equius gets around fucking high bloods!?"

"No, and ew. You're just adorable when you're mad," she said with a giggle. Karkat blushed bright red, making her widen her eyes.

"Whoa, you have candy red blood… Like a mutant or something," Lumia whispered harshly, making Karkat get super pissed off that she knew. Damn him and his stupid blushing!

"Don't you tell ANYONE!" Karkat commanded in the same hushed tone she'd used, only with more hostility. Lumia frowned and nodded, definitely not enjoying being talked to like that. Realizing how rude he'd sounded, Karkat's face softened as he reached out and pressed his hand against her cheek apologetically.

"I'm sorry for getting mad, ok? Just don't start crying. Here, I'll even give you a stupid hug if it'll help, just don't fucking cry!"

Lumia nodded and sniffled a little before smiling wide and wrapping her arms around Karkat, who wrapped his arms around her indifferently. Why in all that's fucked up did he offer to do this? She pulled away a little and smiled, only apart from him by a couple inches. She was trying to go, but Karkat hadn't loosened his grip on her at all.

"Um… This is the part where we let go…," Lumia told him with a grin. Lost in thought, Karkat snapped back to the position he was in and gazed at her, still not letting go. He shook his head to the side and tilted her head towards him. Lumia blushed and leaned in, figuring that's where they were headed. Still lost in her eyes, Karkat did the same until Lumia's soft lips were against his chapped ones. He reveled in the feeling and molded his lips to hers. This just felt so fucking good, why didn't he do this sooner?

"Aww look at Lumia and Karkitty!"

Oh ya, that's why. Karkat pushed Lumia away and went to exit the room when he ran into Sollux, who was just entering the room with Aradia, Troi, and Feferi. They both fell down, and Sollux laughed while saying, "Oh hey KK, don't worry about uth. We got thome otherth to join in."

Karkat shot back up and sprinted out of the room, heading for the second floor in search of a recuperacoon. Luckily there was a guest respiteblock with, which he immediately dove into. He needed al the sopor he could get, because without? There would be a shit ton of Sollux related nightmares.

…

The rest of the day was pretty chill without Eridan, Phaedra, Karkat, or Vriska, who disappeared without a trace after talking to Eridan. Sollux, Aradia, Troi, Kanaya, and Feferi all sat on one couch together snuggled up against a random troll. They decided to be real open about what they were doing, which made some want to vomit, but they didn't really care. It was fun as fuck. Equius and Nepeta were still on the other couch, cuddling and watching a movie. By the way, when I say cuddling, I mean that Nepeta is all up on him and he's doing his best not to touch her cause he STILL thinks he's gonna squish her.

Lumia was standing against a wall talking to Terezi, Tavros and, guess who? Gamzee, but this time he was actually participating in the conversation. The three had wanted to know what 'all up and made that motherfucker run', to which Lumia wasn't really sure…

…

It was almost dark out, which mean school would start up in a couple of hours. The groups dispersed and went to their hives with their things to prepare for school, Feferi volunteering to stay and locate the missing trolls. It hadn't taken long though. Vriska was asleep in her recuperacoon, Karkat was in a guest room, and Eridan and Phaedra were in what she figured was just a really shitty living room. She'd woken all of them up and told them to go to their hives in the nicest way possible before heading back to her own hive underwater.

They did as they were told, all except Vriska, who didn't really need to go anywhere. Being the gentletroll he was *cough*bullshit*cough*, Eridan offered the remaining two a ride home on his lusus. His hive was very close to Vriska's, so it really wasn't a big deal. First he had taken Karkat home, who'd practically begged to be dropped off before Phaedra. Afterwards he had dropped Phaedra off while she gave him directions, seeing as he didn't know where she lived. She'd hugged him goodbye, then sped into her hive without looking back. He was actually glad she didn't, though, because the violet tint on his cheeks was absolutely embarrassing.

Then he had gone home and prepared himself for school, just like everyone else, thinking of Phaedra the whole time.

…

Eridan was the last to show up to school. He'd been the last one to get home as well, giving him less time to work on his hair and perfect his clothes. When he approached the table he almost busted up laughing once he saw their faces. Everyone who hadn't gotten any sleep looked absolutely horrible! Bags were apparent under their eyes and they didn't look put together at all. Even their freaking clothes were disheveled.

He sat down next to Phaedra and observed the trolls from up close, deciding that they now looked even worse. Next to his right was Nepeta instead of Feferi, which he was grateful for. He noticed that Nepeta and Equius had switched seats with Troi and Feferi, but he wasn't going to question it. He also noticed that Terezi and Karkat were back in their original seats, leaving Lumia next to the teal blood rather than the… Whatever blood he was. Once again, he wasn't going to ask. Instead he gave his attention to Phaedra who was now looking at him like he'd sprouted two heads.

"Wwhat?" he asked her, hoping against hope that he hadn't upset her AGAIN. He hated making her mad, even if she was quick to forgive him, and resolved to try doing less of it. She just smiled and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, successfully confusing him further. God, why are women so good at that?

"Nothing, just worried about Lumia and stuff. Apparently her and Karkat kissed, and he ran off like a little bitch just because Nepeta commented on it. Oh ya, plus, Troi and Feferi are doing weird swinger shit with Sollux and Aradia, but that's not really important. I just felt that that needed to be mentioned," she rambled, still hugging the sea dweller. He simpered and hugged her back, enjoying how her form felt against his until he realized what she'd said.

"Wwait you mean to tell me that Fef and Sol wwere havvin' relations?" he whispered, pulling away from her and glowering. His eyes darted to the mentioned trolls for a second before directing his attention back to Phaedra. She nodded and frowned, knowing the news would upset him. She had to tell him, though, or he'd figure it out later from someone unwilling to comfort him and she didn't want that. Violet tears were collecting in the corners of his eyes and his bottom lip began to quiver as he rested his head against Phaedra's shoulder. She affectionately placed her hand on the small of his neck and used the other to rub circles on his back.

"It's not fair Phae, it's just not fair! Wwhy do the trolls I pitied get to be wwith each other?" he asked once the liquid poured from his eyes and onto Phaedra's shoulder, "I evven thought I wwas gettin' ovver them! I wwas happy cause you wwere bein' all nice to me, makin' me forget about them. Wwhy did you havve to tell me!?"

Phaedra shooshed the sobbing troll and placed her chin on his shoulder.

"Somebody was going to tell you Ampora. Something like this wouldn't be hidden for long: considering how open they are about it," she told him regrettably, feeling guilty for saying anything even though she knew it was necessary. He didn't cease to lament: her words only adding to the sorrow he was experiencing.

"I knoww that, but wwhy did YOU havve to be the one to tell me?"

Not quite following, Phaedra tore the royal off of her and searched for his eyes, but they remained hidden behind their lids.

"If somebody else had told me then I wwouldn't feel so bad!" he wailed, fresh tears falling down his face and onto Phaedra's jeans. Taking the bait, the noble asked him why that was, uneasiness displayed perfectly on her face.

"Because if you see howw upset I am about it, then you'll think that they're the only ones I wwant to be wwith! You'll think that they're the ones I pity…," he trailed off, any other words being drowned out by his anguish-induced blubbering. Feeling more sympathy than she ever has if her life, Phaedra placed her index finger and thumb on his chin and willed him to look at her. He obliged and opened his eyes, looking at her with uncertainty and doubt. The look nearly broke Phaedra's blood pumper, and what he did next pretty much finished the job.

He pushed her hand away and got out of his seat. She continued to look at him with apprehension, using her eyes to beg him to stay, but he just glowered at her and left the cafeteria in a huff. She hung her head in despair and turned her body around so that she was facing the table again. With one final yearn-filled sigh, she slammed her head against the table and cried.

…

It was pretty awkward in the next few classes. In first period Lumia and Karkat refused to talk to each other, so English was really uncomfortable for Feferi and Troi who did their best to cheer the other two up. First period Gym was weird because Vriska and Phaedra weren't talking like usual. Vriska was upset because Phaedra was upset over Eridan, and although she didn't know why, she knew there was something wrong with feeling this way. She wasn't sure why Phaedra being sad over Eridan hurt her so much, but it did. Phaedra was depressed, but kept trying to talk to Vriska, who just brushed her off like she was nothing.

Second period culling was fucked up since Phaedra and Eridan refused to even look at each other. Then when they got partnered up to demonstrate culling techniques, Eridan had nearly killed Phaedra because she'd protested to the idea of hurting him. If it weren't for their teacher Mr. Giclopse interfering, she'd be dead. Third period Algebra 1 was hell between Karkat and Lumia because they sat next to each other. Mrs. Ohpeee had sensed the frustration between the two and asked what was wrong, unknowingly making the situation worse even though she really did care. Fourth period Physics sucked for Troi, who's only two friends in that class were too busy sulking together. He wanted to help them, but the only one he'd ever been able to assist was Phaedra, and he'd never dealt with her when she was sad. If she was angry, he'd have her chill in minutes, but sad? She never really was sad, so this was new to him.

Lunch was absolutely terrible. The table was silent, save the swingers who pretended everything wasn't going to hell. Tavros and Gamzee just quietly conversed to themselves, Nepeta was sad because of how upset her friends were, and Equius was mad at all the distressed trolls for upsetting Nepeta so… Fuck, almost all of them were just depressed or pissed or both! They remained like this until FINALLY somebody said something.

"Ok you know what? This is bullshit! Karkat, get the fuck over yourself already!" Phaedra screamed, pissed beyond belief that he'd hurt Lumia, "Do you have any fucking idea how hurt Lumia is because you ran off? Ya, Nepeta told me everything before you guys showed up when we were at breakfast. Seriously? You thought it was ok to kiss her and get her hopes up like that and then DESTROY THEM!? WELL NEWFLASH YOU BASTARD! YOU CAN'T JUST MAKE SOMEONE FALL FOR YOU BY WHINING AND BEING PATHETIC AND THEN BREAK HER BLOOD PUMPER LIKE THAT! ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS HELP YOU AND YOU JUST… You just push her away… Fuck…"

"Um Phaedra… I don't mean to be, uh, rude, cause that's the last thing I'd do… But… I don't think that, um… Karkat was the one doing that… But I guess I could be wrong," Tavros timidly corrected, doing his best to help the awkward situation. Phaedra shrank into herself once she realized he was right and she'd been expressing her own issues she was having with Eridan.

"The fucking point is… Karkat, you need to stop ignoring Lumia because she's hurting. I don't give a fuck how bad you feel, you need to seriously just talk to her… Tell her how you feel or whatever, because doing this to her isn't ok…"

"Oh because you have any fucking room to talk!" Karkat countered, standing up and screaming at the dismayed noble, "All you do is let Eridan walk all over you and as a result, YOU'RE BOTH JUST IGNORING EACH OTHER! I can't believe I'm even forced to know your pathetic ass! You act like you're so tough and 'chill' when you're even more fucked up than I am! Eridan told me about your past during hall time you homicidal bitch! Fuck, you and Vriska would be perfect for each other if it weren't for the fact that even SHE'S too good for you! The ONLY troll that even comes close to how pathetic you are just uses you as an outlet so he doesn't feel as bad! He should've just culled you in class WHEN HE HAD THE CHANCE!"

Lumia stood up and ran over to Phaedra, hugging her as hard as she could and sobbing softly.

"Don't talk to her that way dammit! Look, I don't know what happened in her past before I came along, but I do remember when she killed someone, and she had a good reason for doing it, so leave her the fuck alone! Sure, she can be distant and sarcastic and defensive and bitchy and submissive and a smartass and… Well, you get the point! She's not perfect, but who is!? Definitely not YOU! You think SHE'S the messed up one? Who the fuck are you even fooling? YOU HAVE CANDY RED BLOOD YOU FUCK UP!" Lumia shouted the last part (even louder than the rest of her ranting), ensuring that everyone heard in her fit of rage. Once what she'd shouted registered in her think pan, she covered her mouth in contrition. Karkat stared at her with his eyes wide open, disbelief flooding every thought he had.

"Oh god Karkat I'm so sorry… It's just that you upset me and I… I'm so sorry…," Lumia whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. Karkat growled at Lumia and screamed, "No you know what? It's my own fault for thinking I could actually trust someone. I can't believe I actually PITIED YOU!"

Karkat slammed his fist on the table when he said the last part, putting a shit ton more emphasis on those words. He stormed out of the cafeteria, refusing to look at all the trolls staring at their group. Lumia sat back down and cried with her face buried in her hands, a puddle of yellow forming at her feet. Shocking everyone, Sollux got out of his seat and kneeled beside Lumia with a smile.

"Hey, you shouldn't cry over that athhhole. Heth not worth it," he assured her, "He'll get over it eventually though."

Lumia sniffled and wrapped her arms around Sollux's neck, pulling him close and burying her head in his shoulder. He allowed her too and rubbed her back soothingly while Aradia walked over and whispered sweet nothings into Lumia's ear to help. Feferi and Nepeta were both wailing because of the drama, burying their faces in their men's chests. For once, Equius allowed himself to touch Nepeta, merely grazing the back of her head with his hand so it wouldn't hurt her further (disregard the cat pun, now isn't the time). Kanaya and Terezi both hung their heads, deciding that nothing was probably the best thing to say right now. Sensing his matesprit's discomfort, Gamzee had wheeled Tavros out of the room, not wanting the drama to ruin their chill mood. He hated seeing Tavros all up and sad about stuff.

Vriska turned to Phaedra and swallowed her pride. She scooted closer to her friend and placed her arm around her comfortingly. Phaedra excepted the consolation and laid against Vriska, almost wishing she'd never met the twelve new trolls. Well, almost…

"Listen up, because I ain't planning on ever doing this again. Phaedra I'm…," Vriska paused, looking at the troll next to sincerely and barely getting out, "I'm sorry."

Phaedra stood up and offered a small smile that quickly turned into a frown. She glanced over at Eridan for a second who hadn't said a thing and still refused to meet her eyes. She sighed and looked back at Vriska.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for. All you've done is been there for me. Well, except for this morning, but you deserve a break from having to deal with me every now and then right?" Phaedra asked with a smirk, then laughed and added, "Fuck, I really hate Karkat. Midget just gets on my damn nerves, and I don't mean in a Kismesis kind of way. I mean I just want to fucking cull him, am I right?"

Vriska laughed and nodded, happy that Phaedra was being so understanding about this despite the fact that she didn't really know why Vriska was upset. Although, the cerulean blood was thankful for that, because if she knew it would ruin everything.

"I think I'm gonna go do that, actually… Ya. I'm just gonna kill him," Phaedra decided, then repeated the mantra that she always recited when summoning her scythe, "Come to me my Adamantite Scythe. Aid me in battle so that we may bathe in their blood!"

Lumia perked up and gazed hysterically at Phaedra, as did the trolls sitting at the table: even Eridan.

"Allow us to add yet another miscreant to our collection!" she finished, her scythe materializing in her right hand. She spun the weapon to get a feel for it and smiled manically. Figuring now was the to act, Troi leapt across the table and into Phaedra's view.

"Phaedra sit down, you don't wanna do this!"

"Oh but Troi, you're my moirail! You know better than anyone that I DO want to do this, and you're only in my face right now because you know I will!" she stated, punctuating with deranged cackling. Troi summoned up his wind and fire wheels and held each spherical weapon in a separate hand threateningly. Phaedra laughed at his futile efforts and struck a fighting stance.

"Phaedra please, you're better than this!"

"Troi… Sweet, sweet Troi… You and I both know that… In all actuality… I'm not!"

Phaedra lunged forward, making it seem as if she were going to attack Troi, but turned at the last second and ran out of the cafeteria. Troi put his weapons away and gripped Equius shoulder.

"You're the fastest and the strongest out of all of us. Go stop her, now!"

Equius responded quickly, giving it his all not just because he'd been ordered, but because he seriously didn't like this girl. Now was his chance to show her how a proper indigo blood should act! He sprinted after the fellow indigo blood, leaving the others to deal with finding Karkat. Troi immediately assigned the job to Terezi, figuring that her heightened sense might help in this kind of situation.

"No, let me," Lumia stated harshly, getting out of her seat and actually GLARING at Troi. He nodded understandingly and held his hands up innocently.

"Alright, alright, go ahead. Just make sure you find him before SHE does and that he gets back here," Troi instructed, not bothering to explain who SHE was. Lumia nodded and left the room, and all the others could do was wait and hope for the best.

**Alright so I guess I DID decide to include mature themes. Yay for swingers, am I right!? Anyway, there it is. I feel like nobody gives the ashen quadrant enough attention, so I'm going to include some between Phaedra and Karkat. So, will Equius get to Phaedra in time? And if he does, what will he do? Mwhahaha don't you just love stupid questions like that?**


	4. From Black to Red

Equius exited the cafeteria and sprinted after her, running as fast as his legs would allow: which happened to be pretty damn fast. She managed to stay ahead of him, though, laughing uncontrollably at the idea of someone trying to stop her while she twisted and turned down various hallways in an attempt to lose him. Every now and then she'd swing her scythe around whilst running and strike some fixture in the school, just for the sole purpose of leaving behind a trail of destruction. These actions only managed to upset Equius even more, finding her carelessness absolutely revolting.

"You'll have to do better than that Zahhak!" she threw over her shoulder as she struck a fountain, water gushing out and coating the tile floor. She'd expected this to slow Equius down, but the indigo blood was much smarter than she'd anticipated. He STRONG jumped and sailed over the accumulating water, landing with a 'thud' and leaving a fist imprint in the ground. He got back up and resumed chasing the murder-happy troll, now only mere feet away. A little worried at this point, Phaedra quickly stepped to the side and in one fluid motion, spun her scythe so the blade was digging into Equius' stomach. He came to an immediate halt, for if he'd continued running, he'd be split in half at her hands.

The girl chuckled and pushed her blade further into his flesh, deciding she'd very much like to watch this troll suffer, but Equius was having none of this. He gripped the blade of her scythe with his hand, causing his blood to spill onto the floor, and yanked her scythe away from her. He tossed it aside and it landed on the ground with an audible 'clang', her only means of strife discarded and out of her reach. Despite knowing she'd lost, Phaedra just looked at her assailant and simpered arrogantly.

"What's so funny?" Equius questioned in frustration, unable to fathom why she would be smiling now of all times. Phaedra cackled maniacally and slammed the back of her head against the wall, making the other troll squirm in his spot uncomfortably. What the heck was wrong with her?

"Why, YOU of course!" she stated simply as if were obvious, then resumed her deranged laughing. Equius suspended all movement as his think pan became lost in thought. He was most certainly NOT funny, nor was this situation. He didn't believe this troll could be anymore impaired if she tried! Not only did she make a mockery of nobilities everywhere, but she always debased her own blood caste. He'd have let that slide, much like he did with Gamzee, but this was not just HER blood caste. It was his.

Everything she did reflected upon her blood caste and, by association, reflected upon him. He refused to stand for such depravity any longer! Today was the day she'd learn her place and what it meant to be a respectable indigo blood. No more foul language, no more mindless flirting with the sea dweller, no more debauchery with the cerulean blood, and no more unnecessary killings! Her reign of immoral shenanigans would end now!

"Why so serious," she snickered, orchestrating an imaginary quartet with her fingers while listening to music that only played in her own head, "Why don't you do something about it, huh!? Rip my head off just like you did to the musclebeast you favored oh so much!"

She calmly started humming a quaint little tune, forgetting entirely that she'd just been yelling. Equius snarled under his breath and lunged forward, wrapping an arm around her neck without adding even a little force. He knew how STRONG he was, and he knew that merely grazing would get his point across nicely. He lifted her up and pressed her against the wall just barely, already forcing her form into it. She gave him an open-mouthed smile and dug her nail into his broken horn, knowing that since it was broken, she had access to all the little nerves that were undoubtedly in every trolls horns.

He howled with pain and ever so slightly tightened his hold on her puny little neck. It'd be so easy for him to just crush her wind pipe, kill her and be done with it. He wouldn't even have to try! Heck, it was easier for him to kill her than it was to choke her like he was. Keeping her alive required concentration to ensure he didn't exert too much force. In his opinion, she should be grateful that he was permitting her to live! Not making pathetic attempts to hurt him that would only enrage him.

Phaedra didn't see it that way, though, and continued stabbing the nerves in the crevice of his horn. She used her other hand to remove his glasses and threw them out of reach. He narrowed his eyes at her as she revealed the two blue eyes that he had been covering up. Frowning, she lightly traced the area with her thumb, not liking the idea of someone doing this to him.

"Who?" she choked out, knowing he'd understand what she'd meant. He did and pushed her hand away from his face with a scowl. His grip on her neck loosened, though, so she knew she'd hit a weak spot.

"In fits of rage, I fight the many robots that I create and destroy them. These, as well as some of my other visible injuries, are the results," he explained in a steady voice, "It worries Nepeta, but it is my outlet so I ignore her pleas."

Smirking devilishly, Phaedra placed her hands on Equius chest and dug in her nails. She wasn't fond of someone/something hurting him, or at least, somebody other than HER. She wanted to be the one graced with the task of inflicting pain upon him, not some stupid robot. She wanted to be the one to make him beg for mercy, which would never come. She wanted to see him degraded and used, just like he claimed she was. Remembering a little trick that Gamzee had told her when they were all four talking at Vriska's, Phaedra glared at him and put her fiendish plan into action.

"Equius, I command you to let go of me at once!" she bellowed, remembering how funny Gamzee had thought this was. He intended for it to be used as light conversation material, but she would turn the little joke into something far more devious. Equius tensed up in front of her and widened his eyes, not liking where this going. Or rather, not liking HOW MUCH he liked where this was going. He was about to stammer out some refusal, but the idea of being bent to someone else's will was just too alluring.

He freed her from his grip, allowing oxygen to flow back into her at a normal rate. She landed on her feet and positioned her hands against the wall, body bent over so that she was facing the ground.

"Good. Now, get down on your knees," she ordered. He stood there in shock, refusing to accept that he was going to be cheapened like this. When he continued to openly defy her, Phaedra repeated the instruction a second time, making sure her voice was much more hostile than the previous time. He did as he was told this time and got on his knees.

"Now look up at me filth!" she shouted, to which he complied, "Let me just tell you how this is going to work. If there is ANY hesitation or refusal at all, I will slice you in half with my scythe. Do you understand me?"

He nodded, knowing fully well that she wouldn't be able to act on that threat. If she even tried to go after her scythe, he'd easily overpower her a second time. Maybe this was why he loved being controlled like this? Being the one in control could get boring sometimes, and he needed someone to scold him: show him how useless he was. She was a worthy opponent, after all. No troll would dare fight against him the way she did. No troll would struggle against all odds the way she did. No troll would allow him to indulge in his sick fantasies the way she did. She was just so vile and crude and insane and foolish and this whole act was wrong and so freaking hot!

Phaedra smirked and pulled down both her skinny jeans and panties, revealing her sopping wet nook. He marveled at it, quickly realizing that it looked exactly like his own, and then shuddered at the thought of something so perverse. He started without instruction, sliding two fingers along the folds and soaking them with her genetic material. She rewarded him with a soft moan, and then provided him with a certain… Initiative.

"Since I'm a fairly generous person, I'll make you a deal. If you can get me to cum before the bell rings, then I'll not only let Karkat live, but I'll be your personal outlet instead of those mechanical misfortunes. This only gives you about five more minutes, so I'd get to it indigo swine."

Said swine inserted the two fingers into her nook and pumped vigorously, deciding he liked the idea of having someONE instead of someTHING to take his anger out on. She groaned as her bulge came out of hiding and twisted against his face, slathering it with her indigo extract. He relished in the feeling and pressed his tongue to the tip of it, adding a third finger into her tight nook. Phaedra started grinding down on his fingers and reached down to grasp Equius long hair.

She tugged as he swallowed the first few inches of her bulge. He moaned at the thought of having this inside him: having her pound into his nook relentlessly. Equius sucked on her length and bobbed his head, taking in more every time his head shot forward. He kept his eyes up just like she'd ordered and watched her panting above him, loving the view she provided him with.

He was now deep throating her, nearly choking from her girth. She was a mess of moans and shallow breathing, but for some reason she just wouldn't come. Time was running out, so Equius did something as a last resort. He shoved a fourth finger into her nook and thrust his fingers at an alarming speed. With the added appendage, Phaedra threw back her head and came, forcing his head to her groin and shooting all off her fluid down his throat. He swallowed all of it and sputtered once she let him go, her bulge resheathing itself.

Phaedra chuckled as she pulled her bottoms back up and strode over to her scythe. True to her word, she unequipped the weapon and forced it back into her strife specibus. The bell rang as she did so, making her want to laugh at his perfect timing. She decided to just make her way to her fifth period, wanting school to be over with as soon as possible. Whilst walking, she directed one more snarky comment at her new kismesis.

"Congratulations creep, you just earned yourself a bullshit black rom," she informed him with a grin, and then begrudgingly left to go to Health where she'd have to deal with Eridan who would no doubt give her yet another reason to feel miserable. As if rejecting her help this morning, trying to kill her for no reason, and leading her on only to push her away wasn't enough.

Equius remained on the floor and turned to lean against the wall, both disappointed in himself and thrilled upon doing something so unspeakably… Lewd.

…

**EmoxRainbows: Eeyup, it's that time again. Now that I've forced you to read that fucked-up-ness, we're going to go back in time and see what Lumia was doing! Aren't you so excited?**

**Random People: Ugh, no!**

**EmoxRainbows: Grrrrrrrreat!**

Lumia rounded the corner and watched Equius and Phaedra turn down a random hallway. She decided to go the opposite direction, hoping to either get to Karkat first or cut her friends off. She sped down the hall in search for the midget troll, wondering how she should even approach him. He was most likely upset with her, and she doubted he'd want anything to do with her now, but she had to try. She had to warn him!

She called out his name desperately as she ran, placing her hands against her mouth in an effort to amplify her voice even though everyone knows that doesn't actually work. Just as she was about to lose all hope of finding him, she heard a faint little sob coming from the hallway to her left. She quickly turned down it and followed the sound, and what she discovered made her want to cry.

Karkat was sitting on the ground with his face buried in his hands, sobbing uncontrollably and allowing his red tears-god he hated that color-to fall onto the floor and puddle around him. Lumia approached him cautiously, wanting nothing more than to reach out and take it all back. She didn't mean to hurt him, she truly didn't, but… Phaedra had been there for her much longer. Phaedra had always stuck up for her in the past. Hell, that's how they met!

Lumia had only been four sweeps old at the time, and was lying near the beach at night: taking in the beauty of the ocean with her little rattle snake lusus by her side. She'd never understood why land dwellers were so afraid of the water, but she never really got the chance to ask them either. She'd always been alone, save her lusus, Rattler, and wasn't very liked among trolls. She didn't mind, though, and was perfectly content to live out the rest of her life with Rattler, despite how preposterous the idea was.

She gazed at the waters most night, but as many of you have guessed, this was no ordinary night. Tonight was the night she'd discover why so many land dwellers feared the aquatic expansion…

_Lumia stared lovingly at the watery depths and sighed dreamily, wishing that someday she'd have the opportunity to explore the vast blue. Rattler rested in her lap and shook its tail happily, or at least that's how Lumia had always interpreted it. She'd always thought it to be a sign of affection, rather than warning, so she continued to watch the waves roll over each other in an intricate dance that she could only dream of learning. She was shocked when something rose from the waves, a sea dweller, and strode towards her in a regal manner. She gawked up at the man as her lusus' tail shook spastically. _

"_Hello there young lady," he greeted with a straight face, "What do you think you're doing?"_

_Not fully understanding the question, Lumia just looked up at him quizzically. The sea dweller frowned at her ignorance and moved closer to her._

"_I said," he punctuated with a cruel slap, leaving a yellow hand print on her cheek as she fell onto her side, "What are you doing here you pathetic lower blood?"_

_She began to cry and tried to sit up, but he had his foot firmly planted on her head and was pushing her down. He grimaced at her disgusting yellow tears and pressed harder, cutting off her air supply as her face was smashed into the sand._

"_Such a terrible excuse for a troll," he spat, not noticing the rattlesnake slithering towards his leg until it was too late. Rattler dug his fangs into the sea dwellers ankle, making him lift his foot from her head and howl in pain. He used the same foot to kick the lusus, sending it sailing several feet away. Lumia sat up and sputtered out sand from her mouth, more concerned for Rattler than she was for her own wellbeing. _

_Lumia got on her hands and knees and tried to crawl over to her lusus, but the sea dweller had grabbed her hair and yanked her back towards him. A fresh set of tears poured from her eyes as she realized this was it. This was how she and her lusus would die, and there was nothing she could do about it. Her psionic wasn't strong enough to even lift him away yet, so she was forced to just accept it. She closed her eyes as she felt his hand connect with her face a second time, unsure when he even turned her around, but not really caring. It was over…_

"_Hey, what the fuck are you doing to her!?"_

_A third voice rang out through the struggle, but Lumia didn't open her eyes. She was too weak. The sea dweller tossed her aside, much to her chagrin. She just knew he was going to come back, and the idea of suffering any longer absolutely crushed her. She just wanted him to get it over with._

"_None of your business, indigo blood! I suggest you leave now and pretend you saw nothing, unless you want to suffer the same fate," the sea dweller warned with a sharp edge to his voice. Lumia heard the third person laugh, and could sense the smirk in her voice._

"_And I 'suggest'," she said, mimicking his words, "you get the fuck away from her and leave, unless you want me to kill you."_

_This time it was the sea dweller's turn to laugh. Lumia, unable to stop herself, opened her eyes and stared at the troll who had foolishly offered to help her. She had her hair in a long ponytail and was wearing blue skinny jeans, a black tank top, and some weird blue glass over her eye. This girl didn't look at all ready to fight, and yet the smirk on her face convinced Lumia otherwise._

"_I guess I'll just have to deal with you first then," he decided, a chigiriki (Japanese flail weapon) materializing in his left hand. The opposing troll widened her smirk and extended her hand._

"_Come to me my Adamantite Scythe. Aid me in battle so that we may bathe in their blood!" she shouted while a red scythe materialized in her outstretched hand, "Allow us to add yet another miscreant to our collection!"_

_The sea dweller scoffed and readied his weapon, finding her little 'display' slightly amusing, considering she was about to die. She twirled her scythe lazily around her, not at all frightened by the violet blood. Growing irritated by her carelessness, the sea dweller shot forward and swung his chigiriki at the underserving noble, who effortlessly deflected it with the blade of her scythe. While he was busy trying to register how she blocked that, she swiftly spun her scythe and jammed the blunt end into his stomach. _

_He doubled over in pain as she spun her weapon again, and then pressed the blade to the back of his neck. If he so much as moved: he'd die. He may have been a bulgesucking moron, but he knew he wouldn't get out of this if he fought back. He'd have to charm his way out._

"_Now, now, let's not be too hasty," he chuckled, looking up at her with a strikingly handsome grin, "I'm sure there are more… Intimate, ways we could work this out."_

_He finished with a wink, making Phaedra giggle like a school girl. He was about to say something else, certain that he'd secured her heart, when she interjected with a statement of her own._

"_Nice try fish breath," she praised, her school girl act quickly fading away to reveal a cold hearted killer's sneer, "but I think I'll just kill you."_

_So she did. With a flick of her wrist, she sliced threw his neck and beheaded him: dead. As she placed her weapon back in her strife specibus, she looked over at the girl she'd saved and beamed widely. _

"_Hey, what's up?" she greeted off-handedly. Lumia stared at her in disbelief, not even paying attention to the male troll who was running to her savior's side._

"_Dammit Phaedra what the hell!?" the unknown troll exclaimed in exasperation, raising his hands in the air in put emphasis on his words, "I thought we agreed to stop killing people!"_

_The girl, presumably Phaedra, turned to the male troll and rolled her eyes. _

"_I had a good reason Troi," she claimed, then blew a raspberry at him. He sighed and smacked his forehead, and then looked at the girl lying on the ground. He raised an eyebrow, looked at the dead sea dweller sprawled out on the sand, and shook his head slowly once he'd put two and two together._

"_Alright, I'll give you this one," he offered, then directed his attention to the bruised yellow blood, "What's your name?"_

_Lumia willed herself to look at the male, who she figured was Troi, and whispered, "Lumia...," before passing out._

When she'd woken up, they were still there by her side. They'd even gotten her lusus, who was covered in bruises from being kick so far. Ever since that day, the three of them had just hung out all the time together. She'd never really thought about that day since, but now that she finally looked back on it, she remembered how willingly Phaedra had killed that guy. And didn't Troi say something about agreeing to stop killing people? She'd been in too much pain to acknowledge it then, but she should've paid more attention: her friend was a murderer.

Lumia pushed the thought aside and sat next to Karkat, not caring if he wanted her to or not. He looked up at her and sneered, quickly wiping away the tears, but it didn't matter. She'd already seen them.

"Karkat, please try to understand… Phaedra is my friend, I had to say something. I couldn't just-"

"Why are you even friends with that bitch!? You're so nice and she's even worse than Vriska, it just doesn't make any sense! God I hate her so fucking much I just wanna cull her!" Karkat screamed, pulling at his hair with clenched fists.

"Well she wants to kill you to, so there ya go! That's the main reason I'm here: Karkat, she's looking for you, and if she finds you…," she trailed off, leaving the rest to his imagination.

"Let her! If she so much as touches me-"

"Just shut up already! Dammit Karkat, you can't fight her, she's too powerful… Trust me, I've seen it…," Lumia interrupted, growing annoyed by his stubbornness, "You wanna know why we're friends? Because she saved my life, Karkat. She didn't even know me… She could've just let me die, but she didn't. She killed the sea dweller that was attacking me and stayed by my side after I passed out from the pain. She's been there since, and I owe my life to her. So just don't… Don't call her that, because she's the furthest thing from a bitch that there is."

"Oh really? And yet she's out there, hunting me down so she can take my life? Oh ya, she's just the best isn't she?" Karkat asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms across his chest. Lumia groaned and buried her face in her hands, about done with this.

"Look, she's not going to hurt you. They sent Equius after her, so there's no way she'll get to you. Probably. In the off chance that he DOESN'T at least stop her, we need to get back to the cafeteria," Lumia instructed, standing up and signaling for him to do the same. He does, but refuses to follow her.

"I want to fight her, so I'm going to find her. I'm not as weak as everyone thinks."

"I'm not saying you're weak you idiot, I'm saying she's TOO strong! She won't hesitate Karkat, she'll just chant that weird mantra of hers and slice you open! And the worst part is… The thing that makes it so damn scary… Is she does it with a smile. She will stare you down and smile the whole time, simply because your death will amuse her. Don't be stupid and waste your life by fighting her, because it's suicide. Honestly, I don't even think Equius would be able to kill her. He could stop her, but not kill her. She wouldn't let him. She may let him hurt her so she could manipulate him or lull him into a state of ease, but I'm telling you she would NEVER let him kill her," Lumia rambled, shaking her head as she imagined how it would go down.

"You saw how easily Equius killed that musclebeast. What makes you think he couldn't do the same to a puny troll?" Karkat pointed out snidely.

"Did you even pay attention to what she did to hers? I just don't want you to suffer the same fate… Please just come with me. If not for your sake, then for mine," Lumia begged, unsure if she could continue with this. Karkat sensed how disturbed she was and sighed, figuring he should humor her and go to the cafeteria. Besides, she was probably right. He saw her dismember the creature: who was stopping her from doing that to him? He definitely wasn't.

Just as he was about to tell Lumia he'd go, the bell rang, meaning it was time to go to fifth hour. Thankful for the excuse to leave, Karkat turned to go to History, but thought of a better idea. He turned again and wrapped his arm around Lumia's waist, pulled her to him, and planted his lips against hers. Her eyes shot wide open, and when he pulled away he actually smiled at her.

"I forgive you for announcing my blood color, but the next time I tell you a secret," Karkat frowned so she understood how serious this next part was, "don't fucking tell everyone. It's a secret for a damn reason."

Lumia nodded whilst dumbfounded as he walked the other way, forgetting everything of any importance as she practically floated to gym.

…

Vriska trudged into fifth period History and scanned the room for… Ah, there the little bastard is. The spider troll marched over to said bastard who's frown worsened once he saw her, but she didn't care. She had a bone to pick with Mr. Karkat Vantas. Once she was in front of him, she shot her palm out and smacked him across the face, then grabbed him by the collar of his turtleneck and shook him.

"You have no right to talk to Phaedra like that you mutant freak," she screamed, drawing the attention of every troll in the room. Their teacher, Mr. Droog, quickly got out of his chair and pulled the two apart, annoyed that the blue blood would dare cause trouble in HIS classroom. He carried her over to the opposite side of the room, making sure to put an appropriate amount of distance between them. Geez, they were like freaking wrigglers! Vriska spent the rest of the hour pouting. Karkat just glared daggers at her, not paying attention to Mr. Droog's teachings.

…

Sixth period Geometry pretty much went the same for Vriska. As soon as she'd seen Eridan, she started beating the shit out of him. The only reason she stopped was because Phaedra pulled her off. At first she wasn't sure why Phaedra stopped her, but after one look into those sorrow-filled eyes, she knew. Phaedra just didn't want to see Eridan get hurt. This only upset Vriska further.

"That's it! I am just SO done with this. Eridan, what is your problem? All she does is help you and comfort you and stick up for you, but then you treat her like shit and push her away. Are you really that dumb?" Vriska asked with feint curiosity. She seriously just couldn't fathom why Eridan treated the girl like this. First he yells at her when she sticks up for him, then he announces her secret for everyone to hear, then he pushes her away when she tries to comfort him, then he tries to kill her, then he tells Karkat about her fucked up past, and now he's ignoring her!? What the hell!?

"Leavve me alone, wwould ya?"

"No, I wwon't," she answered, doing a really bad impression of his accent, "Ugh your voice is so stupid, whatever. Why do you do this to her? Don't you know you're hurting her? It doesn't make any sense because one minute you care about her, and the next you don't so what is it?"

"I'm scared!" he cried out, turning away to hide his tears, "Evveryone I care about either abandons me or hates me, so I'm fuckin' scared she wwill too. She may be all nice noww, but wwho's to say that wwon't change?"

Phaedra eased her way over to him and hugged him, pulling him closer when he tried to push her away. She made shooshing sounds as she stroked his hair along the purple streak, having to stand on her tip toes to do so properly.

"I'm not ever going to leave," she assured him quietly, "You should be able to see that by now. You tried to KILL me, and I'm still here. Doesn't that say anything to you?"

He sniffled and ran his fingers through her hair lovingly.

"Ampora, I've only known you for a short time, but I don't think I could possibly pity another troll the way I pity you," she confessed, pulling back so she could look him in the eyes, "and if you'll let me, I'd like to spend the rest of my life with you as your matesprit."

Eridan nearly broke down upon hearing those words. The idea of somebody pitying him was so foreign, he wasn't even sure how to deal with it. He just nodded and cried some more, forcing himself to say something, ANYTHING, so she knew he felt the same, but he couldn't. Not while crying like a wriggler, anyway. He didn't have to though, because Phaedra understood and continued her expression of pity.

"I pity everything about you. I pity your desperation, your insecurity, your loneliness, your blood caste, your abandonment issues, your genocidal tendencies. I pity it all Ampora," she eased, reaching out to cup his cheek. He leaned into her palm as he cried, unable to figure out why?

"Wwhy me? Wwhy wwaste your time wwith me!?"

"Oh darling, you're not a waste of my time. You're what makes everything worthwhile," she told him with a small smile. He couldn't take these sweet words any more, he had to say something to keep himself from bawling.

"I pity you too Phae, and I wwant to be your matesprit! I'm so sorry about evverything I did. I'd take it back if I could, I swwear," he whined, making her smile broaden. She closed her eyes in understanding and pressed her lips to his, loving this even more than the first time they'd kissed. He was like a drug to her, and all she wanted was to be close to him in every way possible.

He tentatively kissed back, parting his lips as he felt her tongue brush against them. Her tongue caressed his while it explored his mouth. Phaedra took in every detail: how he moaned when she sucked on his tongue lightly, how he flinched every time her hand would grip the base of his horn, how his eyes fluttered when she pulled away. Phaedra wanted to go further, but their teacher Ms. Peregrine had other plans.

"Would you stop sucking each other's faces off so I can teach," she asked in an irritated tone. The two went back to their seats blushing, stealing glances at each other and laughing when their teacher would glare at them.

Vriska smiled and looked at Phaedra sitting beside her, happy simply because she was happy, but couldn't help feel like the whole situation was wrong. It confused her: Phaedra was with Eridan, so why did Vriska still feel so empty?

**I know this is short, sorry. The next one will be the usual 8,000 words so don't worry. Hope you liked how it went from kismesistude to matespritship. You're welcome c:**__


	5. Fluff in the Background

Equius stood in the hallway with his meowrail by his side, each of them just leaning against a wall and passing the time. He wanted so badly to tell her about what happened during lunch, but couldn't bring himself to speak of it. He knew she wouldn't be upset: if anything she'd be excited for him and add the new duo to her shipping wall. It's just that the depravity of it all made him feel kind of weak in retrospect, and he didn't want her to think of him like that. If he told her he had a kismesis, she'd insist he told her everything, not sparing a single detail.

Although, maybe if he just told her he didn't want to discuss it then she'd back off? They were meowrails after all, he was sure she'd understand. But did they really have the time to talk about all this? Seventh period History would be starting soon and Mr. Droog didn't tolerate any socializing. Equius respected the man: always standing by his rules like a teacher should. So many of their teachers were lenient and careless, but not him.

The indigo blood looked down at Nepeta, coming up with a brilliant idea so that they may speak in peace. She was busy pawing at her tail, not noticing the intense eyes upon her until the owner of those eyes cleared his throat to get her attention. She quickly straightened herself out and planted her hands at her sides, thinking that maybe there was a teacher trying to converse with her. It was until she realized there was no teacher that she finally acknowledged Equius' existence. She stared at him curiously, wondering if maybe he was the one who'd cleared his throat.

"Nepeta, we will not be going to seventh period today," he informed her, "There are extremely urgent things that we must discuss pertaining to your shipping wall."

Upon hearing those words, Nepeta's whole face lit up at the idea of sharing all of her marvelous ships with her meowrail! She had so many new ones up for display, and each picture was top quality. Pounce de Leon had even helped draw a couple of them! For a cat lusus, she sure could draw, and Nepeta just knew Equius would agree. Her tail swished happily behind her as she awaited Equius' instruction.

"We will take our leave when the bell rings and go to your cave where we shall confur with one another," he explained further, adding in that cat pun to ensure she'd go along with his plans. It worked.

"AC nods happily and waits fur the bell to ring, furry thrilled that she won't have to go to Hiss-tory, beclaws it's supurr boring," Nepeta narrates giddily, maybe abusing the cat puns just a bit. They remain silent for the rest of hall time as to not draw unwanted attention to themselves, then exit the building after the bell rings.

…

Nepeta smiles as she proudly gives Equius the low down on her ships.

"Ofur here are the kismewsis, here are the matespurrits, ofur there are the meowrails, and in this lonely little corner are the auspistice. Hehe, so it's purrtty much just Kanaya," she explains to him. Just as she's about to start on the joys of shipping, Equius interjects knowing that if she gets started on that then he'll never be able to tell her.

"I see. Your craftsmanship is exceptional, but there is something I must tell you immediately," Equius tells her, making her eyes widen and her smile brighten, "I'd rather not go into the exact details of how this came to be, for that would be far too lewd, but what I will tell you is I have gained a concupiscent quadrant."

Equius had purposely set that up to excite Nepeta even more. She would ask which one and who, growing more and more impatient by the minute, but the Nepeta he saw didn't look very excited at all. Her face had fallen and practically sunken in at his words, making him wonder what he'd done wrong. Perhaps she just wasn't in a guessing mood.

"Allow me to reiterate: I have gained a concupiscent quadrant of the caliginous kind with that disrespectful indigo blood."

Nepeta's mood shifted dramatically, practically going it shipping over-load.

One.

Of her ships.

Had come true!

"Oh Equius I'm so furry happy fur you! I just knew you two would become kismewsis! See, it's right there on the wall?" she announced, pointing at a doodle of him and Phaedra glaring literal daggers at each other. The image made Equius cringe as he remembered how he'd backed down just because she'd ordered him to. If that swine could so easily gain control of him, then did he really have the right to call himself STRONG?

And why had Nepeta been so sad when he first brought it up? He thought she'd have been all over it from the start, but that look on her face loomed in Equius' think pan as he received a message on Trollian. He held up a finger to silence Nepeta as he responded.

_**arachnidsGrip [AG] **__**began trolling **__**centaursTesticle [CT]**_

_AG: Oh Equiussssssss!_

_CT: D - What is it that you require_

_AG: A little reaper told me you were 8eing naaaaaaaaughty ;;;;)_

_CT: D - My affairs are none of your concern b100 b100d_

_AG: Geez you don't need to 8e so uptight a8out it!_

_CT: D - I am most certainly not being 'uptight' about the situation _

_AG: Soooooooo uptight ::::P_

_CT: D - I command you to cease putting the same letter eight times_

_CT: D - It is aggravating to say the least_

_AG: Oh really? YOU'RE going to command ME? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! As if._

_AG: And I am not aggrav8ing!_

_CT: D - I believe I am going to end this conversation now_

_AG: No w8!_

_AG: I actually wanted to ask you something._

_CT: D - Then stop wasting my time and a%_

_AG: Tell me….._

_AG: What was it like?_

_AG: ;;;;)_

_CT: D - Good bye_

_**centaursTesticle [CT] **__**ceased trolling **__**arachnidsGrip [AG]**_

Equius sighed and gripped the bridge of his nose in irritation. How come every other blue blood he knew conveyed themselves with such intolerance? It seemed as if he were the last respectable blue blood on all of Alternia sometimes, not counting the little incident during lunch. Rather than latch onto these unsettling thoughts, Equius switches to offline on his Trollian and gives Nepeta his attention once more.

"My apologies, but that blue blood I live next to was being exceptionally bothersome," he explained, to which Nepeta gave a small nod. Just like when he'd brought up his added quadrant with vague detail, she was looking at the floor and lacking her usual smile. The indigo blood restrained his strength and cupped her chin, urging her to look up at him.

He could see a strange type of olive liquid forming in the corners of her eyes that made him want to pummel whatever did this to her. Although, he was the only one there, so was he the cause? Certainly he couldn't be! Perhaps she was just upset because he'd been ignoring her. Equius didn't think that was a good enough reason to cry, but anything was possible. She was a girl after all.

"Nepeta, why are you allowing tears to obstruct your vision like this?" he asked gruffly, unable to think of a legitimate reason she'd have for crying. Nothing saddening had occurred within the thirty minutes he'd been near her. Maybe it was something that'd happened prior to then and she was just now reacting to it?

The liquid was streaming from her eyes at a rapid pace, a new tear rushing to replace one once it had fallen to the cave floor. She stared up at him with those wide kitten eyes she used to get her way, but now they just made her seem dejected. It was shameful for such a lovely young face to be besmirched this way, and Equius resolved to do something about it.

"Please inform me of what's going on through your head. I'm unable to assist you if I don't know," Equius put simply, this being the closest thing to begging he was capable of right now. Nepeta smiled as the tears continued to fall because she knew that. She knew he always tried so hard to put aside his silly impassive personality, and it made her happy to know he did that: just for her. She reached up to wipe away her tears, which made Equius smile as well. He knew she was only cheering up because of him, and it made HIM happy to know she did it: just for him.

That was how their moirallegince worked. They were perfectly balanced, perfectly in sync with each other. Equius protected her and helped her in any way he could, always swooping in to ensure she was well behaved and safe. She wasn't particularly fond of acting like a lady, but she knew he only did it because he cared. In his mind, making sure she was sophisticated was the kindest thing he could do, so she accepted his sometimes unbearable treatment and did her best to act proper like he wanted.

In a way, Nepeta protected Equius as well. Obviously he didn't need help when it came to defense, and that wasn't how Nepeta protected him. She protected him from himself. When he got upset to the point of violence, he'd vent by setting his robots to 'kill' mode and destroying them. This was safe for everyone else, but left him with very noticeable markings. Nepeta hated this, seeing as it was technically self-inflicted, and always did her best to calm him down with her adorable antics. It usually worked, but when it didn't, he'd come back with various cuts and bruises that made Nepeta want to throw him in the robot pile and kiss them all better.

Although, Nepeta had been thinking a little differently lately and it worried her. Karkat had been her flush crush for so long, but his feelings for Lumia were so obvious that Nepeta would have to be an idiot to think she had a chance anymore. Assuming she even had one in the first place. After the realization that Karkitty would never be hers, Nepeta had been more than a little depressed and spent all of her time with Equius because he numbed the pain she was feeling. It amazed her how a mere two days could change her perspective on everything.

And as she looked up at her moirail, who was looking back at her with so much concern it made her want to start crying all over again, she realized why she'd been so sad when he mentioned his relationship with Phaedra. He hadn't given a specific quadrant at first and had only said concupiscent. That'd been vague and implied he could've gained a matesprit, which meant Nepeta wouldn't be able to spend as much time with him. Admittedly, she'd been jealous, and that's why she later cried.

She wasn't quite sure why it took her so long to start crying. Maybe she didn't wanna seem weak in front of him, so she waited until he was preoccupied? Either way, she'd been jealous, and she was beginning to think there was more behind her reasoning than she'd first thought.

Equius was a complicated troll to deal with. He was pushy, violent, and could be really distant sometimes, not to mention his abnormal sweating tendencies and strange fixation with hoofbeasts. Then there was his weird fetish for being controlled, which Nepeta didn't really understand, but she wasn't going to judge. She had a few fetishes of her own, if only she could act upon them, and she knew that that was completely normal, albeit a bit strange.

If she looked beneath the surface and past all of that, she could see so much more. He was only like that because he thought he had to be. He was so obsessed with the Hemospectrum that he allowed in to consume his life. There had only been two instances in which Nepeta could recall that he had gone against it. The first was his flush crush on Aradia. She and Sollux had broken up for a brief time, and Equius had pursued her in hopes of a matespritship. She was everything he could ever want, trapped inside the body of a low blood, but he was nothing close to the troll of her dreams. She was Sollux's, and Sollux's alone.

He'd gotten over her eventually with the help of the second instance: Nepeta. After several feelings jams and consolation attempts, she had successfully cheered him up. Well, kind of. At least she'd gotten him out of his funk.

"Um… Nepeta, are you sickly?"

Nepeta's smile faded as she realized she'd been lost in thought. How weird she must've looked, just smiling like a dork and gazing at his sunglasses, wishing she could see past them. She'd only seen his eyes a couple times since they'd met and she'd cherished each moment. His eyes were even lovelier than her own, and she hated how he masked them the way he did. Nepeta could understand why, considering the blue eyes (instead of black eyes, duh) and everything, but she didn't mind the bruises: he was beautiful all the same.

"AC laughs at that absurd accusation and responds with an assuring no," Nepeta says as she resumes smiling. Equius is skeptical, but nods and accepts her answer regardless. The olive blood giggles and wraps her arms around her moirail's waist, burying her face in his tank top as she says, "Thank you… Thank you so much."

Equius cautiously places a hand against Nepeta's back in an attempt to embrace her, but winds up using just a tad too much strength and forces her flush against him. She looks up at him laughing, though, and he could swear there were sparkles in those large eyes of hers. He's staring, fiddlesticks of COURSE he's staring, how can he not?

And he continues to stare as she gets up on her tip toes and takes off his shades, continues to stare as she tosses them aside and runs her dainty fingers through his hair, continues to stare as he sweats profusely and does his best to keep from shaking, continues to stare as she grins and grips the back of his neck to force him to her level, continues to stare as she timidly presses her lips to his and closes her eyes, continues to stare as the realization sets in.

His moirail was kissing him.

He's not really sure what to think or do, so he just stands there and keeps his eyes open the whole time. Should he kiss her back, or would that be wrong for moirails? Heck, this whole situation was wrong for moirails! Yet… Equius didn't completely reject the idea of possibly being more than that.

Nepeta pulled away blushing, but when she noticed how distraught Equius looked, she immediately felt horrible. He hadn't wanted this like she did, and the only reason he didn't push her away was because he didn't want to hurt her. How could she have been so dumb? She'd screwed everything up, and now she'd lose Karkat AND Equius! She just wanted to be alone right now…

"Equius, I'm afuraid you need to leave," she told him, turning away so he wouldn't see her cry, "Purrlease just… Go!"

The indigo blood nodded before picking up his sunglasses and exiting her cave. Once she was sure he was gone, she fell to her knees and openly sobbed into her hands. Pounce de Leon, sensing that Nepeta was distressed, rubbed her head against the trolls shoulder in a comforting manner. Nepeta hugged her lusus and cried into her white fur.

"You idiot, you've got to be kitten me… You weren't supposed to go fur real…"

…

Equius walked into his basement, seething with anger. Why had he abandoned her like that? Why didn't he stay to make sure she was ok!? He could always go back, but…

"Why am I so WEAK!?" he screams, his booming voice echoing throughout his hive. He strides over to a small remote sitting on a metal table and presses a red button. The machines around him stir to life, eyes glowing bright red like an inferno that Equius would soon extinguish. They all come at him at once, metallic fists connecting with tender flesh and littering his grey skin with bright blue bruises, but he doesn't care. He deserves this.

He strikes the first one with a blow to the abdomen, sending it backwards and into the wall. It doesn't stay there long, though, and rejoins the others as Equius knocks them back as well. With each blow, the machines sail back, only to get up and attack the noble again. Every jolt of pain coursing through Equius' nerves makes him smile, and not in some perverse way where he gets off on it, but because they're punishing him for how he treated Nepeta. His dear, sweet Nepeta…

Equius growls as his fist punctures the robot's chest and he grabs the prosthetic heart inside, ripping it from the iron beast and throwing them aside. He disassembles the other five as well, tearing off their limbs and yanking out their circuitry until there's nothing left except the usual pile of robot debris. Equius pants as he marches upstairs to grab a towel, still fuming because of how much he hates himself. No amount of beatings or scars would change the fact that he was weak.

Too weak to woo Aradia, too weak to kill Phaedra, and too weak to run back to Nepeta: just who was he trying to fool?

…

_**arsenicCatnip [AC] **__**began trolling **__**grimAuxiliatrix [GA]**_

_AC: :33 *ac frowns and rubs her paws together nervously*_

_GA: Why Hello There Nepeta_

_GA: Why Is It That You Are Insinuating Sorrow_

_AC: :33 *ac stares at the ground and says 'i messed things up with ct'*_

_GA: Ct Is Equius Correct_

_GA: Also Would You Be Willing To Cease The Roleplaying_

_GA: I Feel As If It Downgrades The Severity That This Conversation Will No Doubt Ensue _

_AC: :33 it pawsitively is! and i guess i can stop if you want_

_GA: I Do_

_GA: Now Explain To Me What Has You So Bothered Concerning Your Moirail_

_AC: :33 well_

_AC: :33 i sort of kissed him_

_GA: Allow Me To Express My Inability To Come Up With A Legitimate Response With Crumbs_

_GA: …_

_AC: :33 and then he ran away furom me _

_GA: …_

_GA: This Time I Put Crumbs To Imply That I Was Pondering Your Situation_

_AC: :33 oh_

_GA: May I Inquire As To Why You Did That_

_AC: :33 beclaws i think im flushed fur him_

_GA: I See_

_GA: How Very Troubling _

_AC: :33 ya_

_GA: Have You Attempted To Contact Him Since_

_AC: :33 well no_

_AC: :33 thats kind of what i came to you fur_

_GA: Go On_

_AC: :33 since youre so clawver and tailented i was hoping you would help me get him_

_AC: :33 as a matespurrit_

_GA: I Believe I May Be Able To Offer My Assistance _

_GA: You Will Need To Arrive At My Hive Shortly_

_GA: Then I Will Do What I Can To Ensure That The Perspiring Specimen Is Yours_

_AC: :33 *ac tacklepounces ga and rubs her head against her affectionately*_

_AC: :33 thank you so much! youre so pawsome! ill be there soon_

_**arsenicCatnip [AC] **__**ceased trolling **__**grimAuxiliatrix [GA]**_

The olive blood hopped off of her husktop and squealed with joy. She just couldn't believe this was actually happening! Not only was Kanaya the most fashionable troll she knew (more like the ONLY fashionable troll she knew), but she was also the most knowledgeable when it came to quadrants. She was a master of auspistice, and that was the hardest quadrant to manage, so it only made sense that she'd excel at the other three, right? With her help, Equius would soon be Nepeta's!

As she tacklepounces her lusus, she suddenly has another great idea! If anyone else could help her get Equius to flush for her, it'd be Aradia. The maroon blood had been able to attract him, so surely she would be able to give Nepeta some pointers. The kitten troll hugs Pounce de Leon furiously and goes back to her husktop to troll her friend.

_**arsenicCatnip [AC] **__**began trolling **__**apocalypseArisen [AA]**_

_AC: i n33d some help_

_AA: 0h, n0 r0leplaying?_

_AA: that's 0dd _

_AC: well this is furry serious :33_

_AA: alright what is it then?_

_AC: i n33d tips on how to get equius to f33l flushed_

_AC: fur me_

_AA: 0h_

_AA: this is g0ing t0 be a very peculiar c0nversati0n_

_AC: i know 33:_

_AA: well have y0u tried…_

_AA: c0mmanding him?_

_AC: no_

_AC: but i dont want that kind of matespurritship _

_AA: i see_

_AA: y0u may want t0 just tell him_

_AC: i did_

_AC: kind of_

_AA: kind 0f?_

_AC: i kissed him and he ran away 33:_

_AA: 0k then maybe try talking t0 him_

_AA: even if he just didn't recipr0cate y0ur feelings, he w0uldn't have ran_

_AA: that's n0t like him_

_AC: ya i know_

_AC: i guess ill just tail him then_

_AC: thanks_

_**arsenicCatnip [AC]**__**ceased trolling **__**apocalypseArisen [AA]**_

Alright so that didn't work, but Nepeta was not deterred! Aradia may have been unable to help, but she still had Kanaya and that was more than enough. She could see it now: she'd show up and Kanaya would brief her with all the latest troll etiquette, guiding her upstairs to her vast array of exquisite clothing. She would pick the loveliest gown and do Nepeta's makeup and hair just right so that she looked like a proper lady troll. Then she'd look even more beautiful than Aradia and Equius would beg her to relocate to his flushed quadrant.

Then he'd sweep him into her arms and they would ride a hoofbeast into the sunset!

Nepeta giggles at the idea, figuring that last part is a tad bit unlikely, and closes her husktop. Pounce looks up at her with those adorable smiles and Nepeta can't help but to plant a kiss on her fluffy white forehead. Her lusus meows encouragingly as Nepeta takes off, out of her cave and to her jade blooded friends hive.

…

"How nice of you to show up," Kanaya greeted the olive blood as she ushered her inside of her hive, "Do excuse the mess."

Nepeta looked around the hive and smiled at the formality. Her hive was spotless, and thinking otherwise was beyond Nepeta. Everything was nice and neat, placed ever-so-carefully in its proper location. Even parts that could've been dubbed as messy were still organized, meaning that her TRASH of all things still managed to look pristine. Kanaya was the definition of perfection, and her hive resembled that so well.

"Allow us to begin. If you'd be so kind as to follow me to my respiteblock," she insists with a wide smile that makes Nepeta want to tacklepounce her. She was just so formal and elegant, it shocked Nepeta that Equius wasn't going after HER. Although she was happy he wasn't, because that would surely be some heavy competition.

The jade blood escorted Nepeta up to her chambers and closed the door behind them. She strode over to her closet and swung it open to reveal some of the finest garments Nepeta had ever laid eyes on! There were dress and skirts and blouses made of only the finest materials, and each was hand stitched to perfection. Nepeta's eyes immediately settled on an olive green corset dress with black lacey trimming. The ends of the dress are hitched up and there are lovely little bows along the bottom.

She had to have it.

"AC points at the green one," she tells Kanaya with a grin. Kanaya nods warmly and reached for the garment, figuring that she'd choose this one. It simply screamed Nepeta, and even someone who knew nothing of fashion could tell you that. Once Kanaya had turned back with the dress to face Nepeta, she was surprised to see that the troll was already stripped down to her intimates. Nepeta snatched the dress eagerly and pulled it over her head, loving the way it hugged her form.

"That is only the first step. Now we must take care of your makeup and hair. Turn around please," the jade blood ordered, not really surprised that Nepeta had just grabbed the dress right out of her hands. Nepeta did as she was told and took off her hat, barely managing to stand still.

After several minutes of tugging, brushing, and spraying, Nepeta's hair was done. It was all gathered on the right side and curled, which made Nepeta giddy when she looked in the hand held mirror Kanaya had given her. She looked absolutely stunning! Now all she needed to do was stand through a couple more minutes for makeup.

_A couple minutes later…_

"Done. I do hope it is to your liking."

Nepeta gazed at her reflection in awe, completely mesmerized by her appearance. Her eyes had been accentuated, making them appear even larger than normal, and everything about her seemed to sparkle!

"Oh thank you so much Kanaya! It's pawsitively purrfect!" the kitten troll exclaimed, hugging Kanaya as tightly as she could, "I have to show Equius!"

Nepeta bounded out of Kanaya's hive, but not without a second bone crushing hug and a purromise to visit again soon.

…

The lovely olive blood rapped her knuckles against the door anxiously as she stood at the front door of Equius' hive. She adjusted her dress as she waited to be let in, nervous beyond belief about what she was going to do. All the 'what if's' started shoving their way into her think pan, like what if she still wasn't good enough or what if it was her personality he'd rejected? Luckily, she wasn't able to dwell on these thoughts for long because Sir Authour (she added the sir part because she thought it was cute) had finally attended to the door. He looked frightened, which Nepeta quickly took note of, and there was a bruise on the top of his head.

"Hello there Lady Nepeta, I fear that you've come at a bad time. Master Zahhak is a little busy with-"

There was a loud crash that sounded like it was coming from downstairs, and Nepeta was quick to run past Sir Authour and head in that direction, throwing an apology for bursting in over her shoulder at the lusus butler. She rounded the corner and went down the stairs two at a time, forgetting all about maintaining posture and ensuring her hair stayed perfect. None of that mattered right now because she knew Equius was being a dummy and fighting robots again. Then he'd he covered in even more bruises than before, and Nepeta wouldn't have that.

As she reached the bottom, her eyes widened in horror at the scene: there were robot parts strew around precariously, and her moirail was kneeling on the ground while grasping onto what looked like a mechanical heart. There were fresh bruises scattered on his body, and a few open wounds leaking indigo blood. His sunglasses were missing, his tank top had been torn, and all Nepeta wanted to do was run over to him and make everything ok.

So she did. She ran to his side and kneeled with him, pressing their foreheads together. Blood was dripping onto the dress, but Nepeta didn't care. Kanaya would likely become upset, but the only thing that mattered to Nepeta right now was the high blood in front of her who was now looking at her with what could only be described as sympathy. He looked sorry.

Nepeta didn't waste her breath on words, because if she tried she'd undoubtedly start hyperventilating. Besides, no words could possibly express how she was feeling. It was more than just pity, or concern: so much more, and she didn't know what to do about it.

"I'm weak…," Equius barely got out, voicing his issues so clearly in a mere two words. Nepeta became enraged by these words, crying and beating against his chest even though she knew it wouldn't hurt him. Perhaps that's why she did it.

"Dammit no you're not! You're the toughest troll I know and I pity you so much Equius!" Nepeta whispered with a sharp edge to stress he words, "I went to Kanaya's so I could look nice for you and be the lady you want, but I don't care about that anymore! I just want you to be safe…"

She gave into the sobs that were racking her body and cried like she'd never cried before. This hurt far more than it had when Karkat was flushing for Lumia, and was threatening to rip Nepeta apart. The worst part was when Equius pulled away from her, retracting his forehead from hers and just staring at her. Why was he always staring!?

Equius took in her appearance and started to sweat when he noticed how revealing the corset dress was. The garment only went down to just above her mid thigh, and since she was now sitting with her legs apart from each other, he had a perfect view of her little panties. They didn't match the rest of the outfit: they weren't skimpy or lacey or suggestive. They were plain white, with the exception of little balls of yarn being pawed at by little kittens. Not just any yarn, or any kittens, but blue yarn… And green kittens… And all Equius wanted to do was cry.

He admitted she looked gorgeous in the dress with her hair done up nicely, but that wasn't the Nepeta he knew. The Nepeta HE knew wore an oversized jacket and baggy cargo pants simply because they were comfortable. The Nepeta HE knew always covered her head with an adorable blue hat that always made him happy because he KNEW it was only blue for him. The Nepeta HE knew always kept her hair messy and- Wait, was that makeup? Oh god no.

All of that hideous makeup was just running down her face now and turning her usually flushed green cheeks an ugly black color that did NOT suit her. Sure, he always found a lady who conducted herself with grace to be attractive, but not Nepeta. She was the one thing in his life that wasn't meant to be like that. She was cute and little and unkempt and rowdy and his. Yes, he tried to make her act ladylike, but that was simply because she wouldn't find a suitor if she kept up these childish ploys that he'd never admit to adoring.

That's just who she was, and Equius knew deep down that he could never change her, nor did he want to.

"You shouldn't have done this. You were beautiful before, and you shouldn't have changed a thing," Equius tells her, wanting to just hold her until she was done crying, and then wipe away her tears. Why couldn't he just hold her!? It was the one downside to his strength, and he hated it.

"Don't say stuff like that! If you say nice things to me then I'll think you're flushed fur me and you're not so purrlease just… Stop."

"What makes you think that?"

"Beclaws you ran furom me!" she cried while crossing her arms and clenching her sides, "You just ran away…"

Equius frowned, hating how she looked so dejected, and took a risk.

"Nepeta I order you to kiss me again. I fear if I try to kiss you I may hurt you, so this is to ensure your-"

He was cut off as Nepeta tacklepounced him, catching him by surprise and knocking him onto his back. She laid atop him while kissing various spots on his face, happily covering every inch with pity. Finally she kissed his busted lips, easing the pain by licking them better. He opened his mouth, figuring that's what she wanted, and allowed her to probe her tongue inside. He awkwardly did the same, knowing he was probably fucking it up completely, but not really minding because NEPETA was kissing him.

She pulled away far too soon for Equius' liking and smiled down at him innocently. Equius returned the smile to reveal a mouth full of broken teeth, even more so than before, to which Nepeta laughed.

"Oh Equius," she commented dreamily, then grew serious and glared at her new matesprit, "Don't you dare lose another freaking tooth."

**Ok there we go, I'm done. It took so much will power to write this fluff because I just kept wanting to write depressing stuff, which might have leaked out a little, but whatever. It messed up their chat logs because fanfiction is mean like that. Personally I don't think people need makeup and nice hair/clothes to impress somebody, but I incorporated in nonetheless. Also, fuck making my chapters 8000 words long. Who even cares? If you do, get over it and have a waffle (/^.^)/ # - Le Waffle**


	6. The Ships Have Sailed

**So here's what the other fucking couples did after school. It goes: clean, oral, almost smut, and full on sex without pails cause I'm too lazy for that shit. Have fun :P**

What_ Karkat and Lumia did after school…_

Lumia sat on the couch awkwardly, shifting her legs against the wooly black fabric and rubbing her sweaty palms together. School had been over for a half hour or so now, with only seven casualties to speak of and her Karcutie wasn't one of them. It'd been a frightening day for everyone, except Phaedra, and Lumia was content with just sitting here and waiting for Karkat to finish strifing with his lusus. Or at least, she would be if she weren't so friggin' nervous.

She attempts to calm her nerves by examining the room she's in. The first thing she noticed when she got here was how impossibly miniscule Karkat's hive was. Now she under no circumstances considered her hive very large, but in comparison? She may as well have been a sea dweller. Taking this into consideration, she is unsurprised that this room is so small and yet, it's more cozy than it is cluttered. He does well managing the small space he has, she has to give him that, and it just gives off this calming vibe.

Unfortunately, all of those vibes seemed to completely avoid Lumia as Karkat walked back into the room with a very prominent scowl. She tensed up almost instantly, unsure how she should approach the situation. They'd barely said a word to each other in sixth period Health, which didn't really disappoint Lumia as much as she's expected. He'd kissed her, and that was all that mattered to her, but when he told her she was coming to his hive after school at the end of class, she'd started worrying.

She was less than qualified when it came to romantic endeavors, and hadn't the slightest idea how to go about pursuing someone. The only 'relationships' she'd ever been in were with Phaedra and Troi, and it was purely vanilla between the three of them. Lumia had no clue how to establish a red relationship, much less get him into a matespritship!

"Are you fucking dead or something?" Karkat asks his guest with mild annoyance. She was just sitting there on his couch and staring at him like he suddenly sprouted a second head or some nonsense analogy like that. He watched as she shook her head slightly and blinked a couple times, almost like she had no clue where she was. Then she just stared at him some more, only this time, she seemed to recognize the room. There was something different about this look and it kind of unnerved Karkat a little. She looked… Scared? Sad? Both?

"No I'm just… Spacing out," she tells him, not even bothering to sound convincing. Her voice is strained and cracks at the last word, and it makes Karkat kind of pissed off. Not at her, obviously, but at himself because somehow he'd managed to fuck this up already. He isn't quite sure what he did, but he's sure there's something. There always is.

"What the fuck did I do this time?" he asks, sounding much ruder than he'd intended. The tone in his voice made her visibly cringe, and Karkat could feel a twinge of regret in his blood pusher. Why was he so good at making situations worse than they already were? No wonder Phaedra wanted to kill him. All he ever did was hurt people he cared about, but he doesn't LIKE hurting them. It's just that acting like this was all he ever did. It shielded him, protected him, and made sure nobody could hurt him.

Or so he'd thought. Then Terezi had come along, beckoning him to flush for her. He's pretty sure the only reason she wanted him to be flushed for her was because red just happened to be her favorite color. Then came Gamzee. Stupid stoner Gamzee motherfucking Makara with his stupid sopor and his stupid grin that made Karkat gush pale feelings. Stupid juggalo…

"Oh no!" Lumia interjected, prying Karkat away from his thoughts. He'd nearly forgotten she was even there, which only made him feel worse, "You haven't done anything wrong, I'm just kind of nervous…"

She trails off, and Karkat suddenly feels 413 times better. He feels like the weight of Equius' bulk has just been lifted off of his shoulders simply because he didn't do anything wrong. Ha, that's a first! It's almost ALWAYS his fault, so this is a nice change of pace. She offers him a small smile and nervously plays with the curl at the end of her bangs, and that strikes Karkat as cute. Lumia in general strikes him as cute, actually.

"Then why do you look like your bulge crawled up your waste chute?" he asked, completely uncaring of how perverse that was. Lumia just pouted and instinctively glanced down at her crotch, then back up at her flush crush who was fully equipped with his usual scowl. She never would understand why he looked so pissed all the time. Nobody could be that upset ALL the time, could they? Lumia sighed in defeat, not bothering to acknowledge his question. Instead she decides to ask one of her own.

"What do you do for fun around here?" Lumia inquires, scooting over on the couch so he knows to sit next to her. He gets the hint, but pretends to be oblivious and shrugs casually. The only things he ever did were watch his movies and hack, which let's face it, he's super bad at. Although, watching a movie implies sitting on that couch with her and Karkat's not sure if he can. What if he makes a move and she rejects him? Or even worse, he doesn't make one and disappoints her? Then she suggests something that pretty much leaves Karkat no choice.

"We could watch a movie or something. You have plenty down there," she says, gesturing beneath the TV stand where an abundance of movies lie. They're all romcoms, but she doesn't know that, and Karkat's sure she wouldn't even mind. That's one of things that's just so great about her. Knowing that there's no way out of this, Karkat nods and starts putting one of his favorites in the DVD player. He's not really sure why he's so agitated with her presence suddenly. Besides, he did invite her after all: shouldn't he be the one suggesting stuff? Yet he's not, and he's worrying like crazy because now that the film has started, he's going to have to sit by her.

Then he does, and he makes sure to sit on the opposite end of the couch so that he's as far away as possible from Lumia. This strikes him as odd, the whole avoiding the girl you're flush crushing on, but he does it regardless. He's not really sure what to do, so he just curls into a ball on the couch and does his best to focus on the TV screen. This doesn't work, though, because Lumia keeps stealing glances at him. Not that he's even paying attention, obviously.

Lumia continues her actions until finally she just takes matters into her own hands and stands up. Karkat doesn't fully look at her, but watches from the corner of his eye as she takes a couple of steps his way and plops down right next to him. She even goes as far as to grab his arm and drape it across her own shoulders.

"What in the ever loving fuck do you think you're doing?" Karkat hisses, making sure he sounds hateful even though he hasn't retracted his arm. Lumia takes the latter as a sign to continue and snuggles closer into him, making Karkat blush a bright red. He doesn't say anything else: just lets her do what she wants and maybe enjoys it. Just a little, of course, but then, "Karkat, why aren't you ever happy?"

For once, Karkat has no clue what to say. He wants to tell her how happy he is right now, or that he's been happy before, but then he's struck with that crippling fear that she won't understand. She won't understand why he acts so grumpy, or why he's reluctant to hold her. The only troll to ever understand that was Gamzee, and even then Karkat's not sure if he really does or he's just so stupid that he doesn't know when Karkat's upset. Either of those are probable, and Karkat doesn't even want to think about it. Not when Lumia is twisting her body around and staring at him with such intensity he feels like he'll spontaneously combust. How does she even do that!?

"Because things are shit, that's why," he responds, refusing to look her in the eyes. If he avoids her gaze, it'll be easy, or at least that's what he thinks. It doesn't help that Lumia is persistent as fuck and is currently crawling in his lap so that she's straddling him. Fucking fantastic.

"Even me?" she asks, but there's a hint of something in her voice that Karkat couldn't quite place and why was she batting her eyelashes like that? Was she trying to mess with his head or something? Because if she was, it definitely wasn't…

Oh god now she's pouting.

Karkat does his best to stammer out an answer that conveys how uncomfortable he is in this situation, but all that comes out is stutters and incomplete phrases. Lumia giggles and does this weird thing where she jerks her head a little and her hair sort of flips, and Karkat pretty much melts right then and there. Fucking bitches man. The mutant blood growls at his flush crush, upset with whatever it is she's doing, and she just pouts some more. Her arms are resting around his neck, so Karkat knows there's no way he'll be able to push her off without forcing himself on top of her.

Although, that actually doesn't sound too bad to him. Maybe he should just do that: throw her down and press their lips together, bite her bottom lip and trail his hands down until… Ugh no, don't do that. Karkat shakes his head, trying to rid the inappropriate thoughts clawing their way to the front of his think pan. They stay in the back with the rest of the useless junk.

Then she just stops all time and space. She literally does just that in one fluid moment, pressing her velvety lips against Karkat's and it takes every ounce of willpower to NOT do that thing he just thought of. Sure he'd kissed her before, but they'd been in public and he knew nothing would progress. They were home alone this time, save Crabdad, but he wouldn't pay them any attention. He'd probably encourage it.

Karkat kept his eyes open and just stared at Lumia as she indulged herself, watching as her face contorted with what Karkat was sure to be discomfort. There's no way she could be enjoying this, he wasn't even kissing back! Ah fuck now he's doing EXACTLY that and shit he just moaned. Why did he moan!? Oh great, and now his arms are around her waist.

He could feel Lumia smirk into the kiss, only she wasn't really. She was too kind, too sweet to do something like smirk. It was simply beneath her and all her perfection, or at least, that's how Karkat saw it. Finally, Karkat closes his eyes and allows himself to enjoy this rare moment, taking things a step further and tugging on her bottom lip with his teeth which are pretty dull, so it doesn't draw blood. She reacts almost immediately, moaning and snaking her tongue into his mouth. Shocked by the sudden intrusion, Karkat tightens his hold on Lumia, successfully pulling her closer to him.

Their tongues caress each other and explore, soaking up every detail of the other's mouths. Lumia sucks his tongue into her mouth for a brief moment before relinquishing the appendage and pulling away. Karkat lets out an embarrassing whine and moves forward so their foreheads come together. He runs his hands all along her back and hips, enjoying the curves and dips of her body.

Karkat is unbelievably happy and actually shows it, allowing her to view one of his rare smiles, but then everything goes to shit because she frowns. She frowns and Karkat frowns and it's just hell for him right now. Why was she frowning!?

"Karkat… What… What even are we?" Lumia asks with shallow breath, her eyes still closed and their foreheads still pressed together. Karkat closed his eyes, sighed, and angled his head to the side, ghosting his lips over hers and breathing out his response.

"What the fuck do you think?" he counters, and Lumia lets herself laugh a little before their lips connect again, molding together and holy hell her lips are like silk. Karkat pulls away and brings a hand up to cup her cheek, reveling in the moment and the feel of her skin against his own. Lumia smiles at him and leans against his hand, blushing a bright yellow.

"Does that mean we're… Matesprits?"

"Only if you get off me dammit," he tells her, ruining the moment and glowering at her. He removes his hands from her body and crosses his arms, pouting like a wriggler. Lumia giggles and kisses him lightly on his cheek before getting off and settling down next to him, wrapping both arms around his waist. He groans, but she knows he likes in and rests her head on his shoulder. Karkat looks down at her and rolls his eyes, putting an arm over her shoulders to please her. There's obviously no other reason.

"I guess I pity you or whatever," he admits shyly, keeping his eyes glued to the TV screen.

"I pity you too Karcutie," she tells him with a giggle, knowing he'd hate the nickname. He does, and almost says as much when he suddenly decides against it. Besides, what was the harm in letting her have her fun?

_What Phaedra and Eridan did after school…_

Eridan was currently sprawled out on the deck floor of his hive, which was really just the wreckage of an abandoned teal ship, in just his pants with Phaedra on top of him and beaming. With her help, he'd already culled three lusus in a mere ten minutes for Gl'bgolyb, and he figured that'd be enough to satisfy her for now. Phaedra was forcing his wrists against the hard wood, legs on either side of him, and planting kisses all along his face and body. He squirmed a little, not used to being cared for or treated like this.

Everyone else had left him, teased him, or both, but she was still here. She was above him and pitying him and staying by his side even though he'd been such a jackass. He didn't want to be so rude to her, but he was scared. He was scared she'd be just like Feferi and abandon him when he needed her. Yet here she is, peppering kisses on his form and whispering to him how beautiful he is and he couldn't be more pleased if he tried.

Then she digs her teeth into the flesh by his navel and he moans, arching upwards and wondering why he didn't just let her in sooner. He can hear her chuckle and then her lips are covering his, nipping and sucking on his bottom lip tenderly. Her feelings are evident in everything she does and it makes Eridan whimper as her hand reaches down to toy with one of nipples, rolling it between her fingers and rubbing her thumb against it. Then she tugs and it's absolute heaven for the sea dweller.

He moans again and rakes his fingers through her long hair, digging his nails into her scalp, but she doesn't mind. She just kisses down to the seam of his jeans and grabs in between her teeth. She gives an experimental tug, wordlessly asking if he's ok with this. If he's even ready.

"Phae I'vve nevver done this before an' I don't knoww if I wwanna yet…," he trails off, but she hushes him because she understands. Although, she's still gonna make him feel good. He can't get out of that. Phaedra nods and pulls his jeans down along with his boxers, revealing the prettiest little nook she's ever seen. It's violet and dripping genetic material, and her first instinct is to lap it all up.

"I said I'm not-"

"We're not pailing, relax. I'm just going to pleasure you, ok?" Phaedra interrupts, running a finger along his folds teasingly. He groans and bucks into her finger, mumbling something of encouragement. Phaedra smiles and inserts the finger into his nook, leaning forward to lick at the little bundle of nerves as she pumps the finger in and out. Eridan thrashes in his spot as his bulge abandons its sheath, rubbing against her face and coating it with violet fluids

Phaedra continues to finger him, now using two digits, but allows her tongue to attend to the neglected tentacle. She licks from the base to the tip, wrapping the unused hand around the base and pumping his member. She takes the tip into her mouth and sucks, twirling her tongue around it. Then she bobs her head a little, taking in more every time she goes down until she's reached where her hand is.

She inserts a third finger into his nook, and Eridan can feel himself getting close. He thrusts into her mouth and she takes it, removing her hand from his base and deep throating his bulge. Phaedra hums happily and the vibrations are too much for Eridan. He comes in her mouth and on her fingers, his love juices coating the appendages and draining down her throat. She swallows it all and sits up, removing her fingers from his nook and sucking the cum off of them.

Eridan whimpers and turns away, suddenly super self-conscious. Phaedra wipes the excess fluids from her mouth with her fore arm as his bulge resheaths itself, hovering over her matesprit again with a broad grin. She quickly notices how his eyes dart everywhere but at her, and resolves to kiss his cheek with as much compassion as she can muster right now.

"You're so lovely when you cum darling," Phaedra tells him, making him blush and stare at her in awe, "And even lovelier when you blush."

His cheeks darken and he smiles, straining his head so he can reward her with a kiss. It's not much, but she appreciates the gesture and kisses him back. Eridan practically giggles as Phaedra licks his nose playfully, and then leans in to brush her fangs against his neck. She surprises him when she bites down, a groan of pleasure slipping past his lips while she licks the tender area as an apology.

"Just want everyone to know who you belong to," she states proudly, and it takes everything Eridan has not to break down crying. Somebody actually wanted to be with him AND wanted other trolls to know? Oh cod.

Phaedra grins down at him and runs her fingers through his hair, pretty much just petting him. He mewls and it makes her laugh, but he just frowns at her. She kisses the edges of his lips in hopes of getting them to turn upwards again, which they do because he can't even be mad at her. He has no reason to, surprisingly, and this whole experience is so new to him.

"Phae… Do you think you could tell me wwhy you pity me again?" Eridan asked nervously. He always needed to be reminded, and that was unlikely to change for a long time.

"If you wish sugar glum," she says, intentionally bringing his gloominess up, "I pity you because of all your angelic insecurities, all your undeniable issues, all your looming depression. You're bewitching looks, your pessimistic charms, and your striking intelligence. Everything about you simply screams 'pity me' and I just can't resist, my prince."

Ok, that did it. Eridan is bawling his eyes out right now, so maybe we should just leave them be for now.

_What Gamzee and Tavros did after school…_

"Uh G-Gamzee, I'm not so sure about this...," the brown blood admitted, rubbing his arm nervously and biting his bottom lip in the cutest way possible. His matesprit just chuckled and stroked the side of Tavros' face affectionately. The Taurus let out a squeal of joy at the contact and scrunched his nose up, and Gamzee nearly melted right there. He was just so lucky to be blessed with this little miracle.

"Don't you motherfucking worry Tavbabe, it'll be so bitchtits," Gamzee assured him, scooping the younger troll into his arms and nuzzling against his cheek. Tavros giggled and wrapped his arms around Gamzee's neck, burying his face in the others neck.

"Alright, let's do it," he breathed into Gamzee's ear, making the other start to breath heavily. His bro's voice just did something to him, especially when he sounded so damn confident. The juggalo was half tempted to just forget his plans and take Tavros back to his hive, but he might never get this opportunity again so he restrained his passions. For now.

Gamzee pulled Tavros closer to him and carefully climbed onto the top of Goatdad's head, making sure not to step on his eye or something. This was the first time in two sweeps that Goatdad had shown up, and Gamzee wasn't going to pass up the chance to let his Tavbabe join in on his favorite thing. Everytime Goatdad came back, Gamzee would hop on his head and chill while his lusus would swim out into the ocean. It was the only time the murky waters didn't scare him, and he just knew that he had to share this experience with Tavros.

He rested against one of his Goatdad's horns, leaving Tavros in his lap so they could cuddle. Goatdad bleated to tell them they'd be off, and then submerged the majority of his body in water and swam outwards.

"Oh wow Gamzee…," Tavros murmured, astonished by how beautiful the ocean looked when the crippling fear of death wasn't looming overhead, "It's so beautiful!"

The high blood lightly kissed his matesprit's forehead and admired how excited he looked. Gamzee could just stare at his innocent, amused face all day if Tavros would let him. There were just so many miracles inside the Taurus and Gamzee had a hard time not pointing every single one of them out. His eyes were wide and Gamzee could've sworn he saw sparkles. This kid just never ceased to amaze the clown, and it seemed that everything amazed the kid!

It worked out perfectly between them because that childlike wonder the low blood possessed mirrored Gamzee's high persona perfectly. There wasn't a single thing Gamzee wouldn't do for the boy, and vise versa. So Gamzee just rested his chin atop Tavros' shoulder and allowed his matesprit to indulge in his wondrous fantasies. Little did he know that the purple blood had planned something especially for the two of them to enjoy after this little trip.

He wasn't usually thinking of little romantics like this, but when he'd left Vriska's and gone home only to see his lusus, he knew he had to seize the day. He just knew he had to plan something extra special for the troll he pitied most.

Goatdad pulled up to a small little island a long ways from the shore and dipped his head ceremoniously to let the two trolls off. Although he had no clue what was going on, Tavros allowed Gamzee to scoop him up and carry him off the large creature and holy shit Gamzee you cheesy motherfucker!

The island fucking dazzled. I think that's the best way to put it: dazzled. There was a quaint little picnic set up for them and the entire island was littered with multicolored lights. The brown blood teared up when he saw his Tinkerbull hovering above the basket, staring up at him with big eyes. Gamzee chuckled and set Tavros on the blanket gently, quickly setting up the meal so they could get home before it was light out. They still had a few hours, but just to be safe, Gamzee pulled out the first snack.

Motherfucking PB&J sandwiches. When Tavros saw them, he blushed and giggled at Gamzee's effort. After setting those to the side, he pulled out Faygo, grubsteak, and sopor pie.

"Don't you all up and worry babe. I know you ain't into the motherfucking miraculous sopor, so I got my little miracle something else," Gamzee assured him while pulling out a chocolate pie, "This right here is yours."

Tavros smiled gleefully at the sight of the second pie, thankful he wouldn't have to ingest that green sludge his matesprit loved so much. Then, he got an excellent idea on how he could show his appreciation. He looked at his beloved juggalo and grinned mischievously, then beckoned for him to come with a finger. Gamzee snickered and obeyed like he always did, crawling over to Tavros and completely ignoring the fact that their lusus' were literally right there. Like seriously guys?

The Capricorn sat in his matesprits lap and offered a goofy smile as Tavros reached down to cup his crotch through his PJ pants. Gamzee groaned and bucked forward, making Tavros smirk triumphantly and rub the high blood's nook through the fabric.

"Nowww Gaaamzeee, this is nooot the plaaace for thiiis," Goatdad interrupted, becoming very uncomfortable with the situation. Hell, Tinkerbull was pretty much scared as all hell and just sort of hid behind Goatdad whimpering. Tavros instantly lost his confidence and turned away, embarrassed beyond embarrassment because of what just happened.

"Oh, um… Sorry… About that," Tavros apologized, but Gamzee just laughed and kissed Tavros' cheek.

"Don't you be getting your motherfucking worry on bro, we can just up and do that later."

Tavros blushed and nodded, wishing none of that even happened. What was he ever thinking? Although, Gamzee didn't seem upset about it, so maybe he could grin and bear it until the end of their date. Gamzee repositioned himself so that he was lying across Tavros' lap instead of straddling him and grabbed a sandwich.

"Might as well get our motherfucking eat on," he said before shoving the food into his mouth. Tavros laughed as Gamzee handed him a sandwich for himself, which he happily munched on until it was gone. The rest of the date went well with only one more attempt at pailing on Gamzee's part, who only did it to get Goatdad to scold him. It was better than nothing, right?

_What Feferi and Troi did after school…_

Since they couldn't go to Feferi's hive (for obvious reasons), the two were relaxing at Troi's. They weren't really doing much, just listening to music and talking about their day. By the way, when I say talking, I mainly mean Feferi is going on about how exciting school was and Troi was being the gentletroll he was and listening.

"I mean that was so glubbing scary! I reely thought she would krill Carpkat! Oh cod and I think her and Equius are fishmesis now! He was acting fishy in class and when I asked him what happened with her, he just got mad. That reminds me! Do you have any idea what's going on with Eridan? He's been acting reel fishy too and it's starting to worry me. Maybe I shouldn't have broken off our minnowllegince (I'm reely sorry aboat that pun right there). What do you think?"

Oh fuck, he can talk now? Troi laughs at the thought and offers what little enlightenment he can on those situations.

"Well I know for a fact that Equius and Phaedra are kismesis. Not only that, but you shouldn't worry about Eridan anymore. He's matesprits with Phaedra and honestly? I don't think he deserves her, but she pities him so I can't do shit about it. Don't even bother with fish dick, he's not worth your pale feelings," Troi assures her. She's silent as she thinks this over, and Troi decides to take the opportunity to actually listen to the music.

The song that was playing while she talked was over now, and replaced with a new one that Troi adored. It was among his top five favorites and he tapped his foot to the beat, enjoying the rare silence. Then he gets an excellent idea that'll make sure she stays quiet, but won't offend her! Because offending a lady just wasn't ok at all.

"Feferi my dear, would you care to dance?"

The sea dweller blushed as he extended a hand for her to hold and delicately placed a dainty hand in his larger one. He grinned handsomely and ushered her to stand in the center of the room with him. The two were positioned so that Troi's hands were on Feferi's hips and her arms were around his neck while they gazed at each other lovingly. The two swayed in time to the music, pulling each other as close as their bodies would allow.

"I pity you like no other my empress," Troi tells her, brushing his lips against her forehead (seeing as she's significantly shorter than him) and moving his hands up and down her sides. She sighs contently and ghosts her fingers along his neck.

"I pity you too guppycake!" she giggles excitedly, eliciting a grin from her matesprit. The song is nearing its end so, being the romantic fuck he is, Troi dips his girl and smirks.

"Like no other," he adds and then kisses her sweetly. Feferi laughs as he pulls away and places her hands against his chest, gripping his shirt and bringing one of her legs up. Troi kisses her again, longer this time, and traces her fangs with his tongue. She finds this a bit strange, but allows him to do as he pleases because she'd do anything for him. When he's done, he gently sets her on the plush carpeting and cups her face.

Knowing exactly where this was going, Feferi smirked and placed the tip of her nail in her mouth, putting her other hand behind her head and staring at Troi. He returned the smirk and nipped at her neck, then licked the edges of her fins lightly. Fins were sensitive for sea dwellers, so Feferi was already a panting mess beneath him: bulge unsheathed and everything.

"Such a naughty little guppy," she whined with a pout that made Troi want to skip the foreplay and just fuck her until he tainted that royal blood of hers, but that would be disrespectful and he was nothing if not polite. Instead, he lifted her shirt off and removed her bra to reveal her beautiful anime-worthy breasts (I can't be the only one who sees Feferi with like DD's, right?). He bent over and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth, tweaking and prodding its twin with his hand. He used the other one to slip down her skirt and stroke her bulge, making her twitch under him.

"Oh cod Troi…"

Troi smirked, arrogance peaked, and pulled away to move onto the next stage. He took off his shirt and admired the way she stared at him like HE was royalty or something. Then he pulled her panties down with her skirt and watched her bulge attack the air in search of something to latch onto. Troi removed the remaining clothes he'd had on and looked her over, contemplating on how to do this.

Yes, he wanted to feel her nook clench around his bulge, but at the same time, her bulge was far beyond the size of anything he'd seen and it practically begged him to let it inside him. So, he did. He positioned his nook above her tentabulge and embedded it inside him, moaning like a little bulgeslut as she filled his nook and then some. Once he adjusted to her size, he started to rock back and forth in her lap, but he needed much more. Feferi thrust upward to meet this request, and Troi decided to just take it all.

He bounced up and down on her bulge and angled his face towards the ceiling, lolling his tongue out the side of his mouth. Feferi did her best to match his movements with her own, jerking upwards every time he came down, and she'd say from the moans that she was doing a pretty good fucking job. He just looked so hot right not and…

"Oh fuck, Feferi."

Shit that right there just does it for Feferi. She moans and starts to worry, unsure how much longer she can last. It he says her name like that again, she's just gonna fucking cum. Sensing this from her reaction, Troi grins down at her and decides to do it again since he's so damn close.

"My darling Feferi, I'm afraid I'm going to cum soon all because of the sexy fucking view I have of you."

Feferi cries out her matesprits name as she releases her essence into his abused nook, which is just throbbing because of her size. Troi groans as he cums, a mixture of tyrian and olive spilling out of his hole.

"Oh cod Troi… Glub…"

Troi chuckles and falls next to Feferi: exhausted. Their bulges resheath (Troi didn't really do anything with his, but hey, it was still out) and Feferi wraps her body around her matesprits as she smiles.

"I take it you're satisfied my queen?" Troi asks as he stares up at the ceiling. He really enjoys calling her by various titles, especially if it'll make her feel like royalty (even more so than she already is). Her response makes Troi laugh though, seeing as how out of place it is for her.

"Fuck yes."

**Last scene was rushed because I really just want to eat a poptart. Hope it works.**


	7. Problems with Mindfang

Vriska sat on her front steps and stared up at the moon, shining brighter than ever and gazing down at her with sympathy. The way it illuminated her face just seemed to say 'it'll be ok, stop being a little bitch' and that sentiment was enough to bring a small smile to the spider trolls face. Phaedra was matesprits with Eridan now, and the mere thought of them together sickened Vriska. Even worse was that she'd been forced to watch the entire thing play out in front of her. Well, she didn't really have to, but it was still right in front of her and what was she supposed to do? Plug her ears, close her eyes, and pretend it wasn't happening?

Because it most certainly WAS happening, and DID happen, and she couldn't do a damned thing about it. Although, even if she could… Would she? For some fucked up reason, Eridan made Phaedra happy, and who was Vriska to refuse her of that happiness? Even if the thing that made her happy was a pathetic fucking cod piece that didn't deserve her, she wanted him and that's all that mattered. Knowing this didn't help Vriska, but it did put things into perspective for her.

For one, she finally admitted to herself that she liked Phaedra. She was completely horns over heels red for the indigo blooded troll, and there was no use denying it. She also discovered that she still harbored black feelings for the miserable little twerp and wanted to rip his fucking face clean off! But then Phaedra might get mad at her and that wouldn't end well. The last thing she realized was she needed to talk to somebody about all this, so about twenty minutes ago she'd invited Aradia over so they could talk.

Her friend would be here any minute now and she was more than a little nervous about discussing this openly. It was so unlike her to express herself to someone, and this whole thing was just new to her. She didn't flush crush on trolls, she didn't ask for help, and she certainly didn't allow Eridan the satisfaction of being in ANY of her fucking quadrants! Even considering him for one made her flesh crawl, and it was all because of Phaedra: beautiful, intelligent, deadly Phaedra with her suggestive smirks and addictive determination.

Even the thought of her made Vriska sigh with both wanting and loathing. She wanted Phaedra to be her matesprit so badly, and she loathed Eridan so fucking much for taking away her chances. Who did he think he was anyway? He did nothing but shy away from her advances and yet she persisted! She still wants him, and Vriska cannot fathom what would make Phaedra do something so ignorant. Maybe it was simply because of how accepting she was. Ever since Vriska had met her, all she'd do was stick up for others and protect the weak. Who was weaker than Eridan? Nobody, that's who.

So Vriska continued to dwell on these thoughts with her eyes glued to the moon, not even noticing the maroon blood approaching from her right. Aradia followed her friends gaze and looked at the moon, then back at her and smiled warmly. She knew just how mesmerizing the celestial body could be and was glad that Vriska would share her adoration for it. Aradia sat next to Vriska on the front steps of her hive, her gaze unwavering, and sighed contently.

Vriska jumped in her seat and jerked her head around to stare at Aradia, who greeted her with one of the creepiest grins she'd ever fucking seen. Her grins were already pretty spooky, but the fact that she'd seemed to appear out of nowhere is what freaked Vriska out the most. Ya know, because she didn't know Aradia had walked over there like a sensible troll.

"Damn Aradia, you know there's this new thing called NOT being a total creep? You should totally try it sometime," Vriska said with a smirk, doing her best to mask how terrified she'd been. Aradia just widened her grin, giving the other troll goosebumps.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to frighten you. I just wanted to share your fondness for the moon," Aradia stated calmly, ignoring Vriska's obvious insult. She knew the blue blood was only rude to people because it's what came naturally, and she was too intelligent to stoop to that sort of level. Inside of her harbored wisdom that others could only dream of possessing, and she presented it in such a compassionate nature. Unfortunately, the troll next to her took this as slander and scoffed before retaliating with, "I was so not frightened! Why would I be scared by your lame little ghost act?"

Aradia, taking this as a legitimate question rather than a rhetorical one, scrunched her face up and thought about it. This made Vriska groan in frustration and rethink inviting her over. She just took everything so literal!

"Just don't bother answering that, gosh. Take a joke would you?" the blue blood said to her friend, ignoring that fact that she'd overreacted mere seconds ago. Aradia just nodded and offered another smile, this one less creepy than the others. It seemed to ease Vriska's nerves a little because she smiled back and steered the conversation back on track.

"Now that THAT'S out of the way, we should talk about my problem before I decide it's too lame to discuss," Vriska insisted, clasping her hands together to provide emphasis on her words. Upon hearing this, Aradia straightened her posture as her eyes dilated and brought a hand up to latch onto the side of her head.

"Oh! Right, of course. My bad, I suppose I just got lost in our exchange of words," the maroon blood offered as an explanation for neglecting that topic, "Allow us to begin. You said you were having an issue with Phaedra, correct?"

"Another slip up like that and I might just send you on your way," Vriska playfully threatened, only meaning it a little bit, "But ya, I'm having some trouble with her and I figured, if anybody could help me fix a fucked up relationship it would be you."

Not at all acknowledging what was being implied in that last statement, Aradia just placed her hands in her lap and got into therapist mode. She twisted her body to the left a little and crossed her legs so she could better address her 'patient'. If she maintained eye contact, then Vriska would feel more at ease and willing to open up. Or at least, that's what she thought. The excessive eye contact kind of disturbed her, but she continued anyway.

"I ain't gonna waste your time with pathetic expressions of my devotion, so let's just say I'm red for her and leave it at that," Vriska informed her, figuring she should keep Aradia in the know of her well-kept secret. It wasn't very obvious, and Vriska knew that her friend would be lost without that information.

"Yes, I know. Go on," Aradia urged, doing her best to sound encouraging. The spider troll scowled at her, thinking that her secret had been very well hidden, but kept on.

"Well, now she's matesprits with fish dick and I guess I'm a little bothered by it ok?" she confessed defensively, suddenly finding a small blade of grass next to her super interesting. I mean, she didn't REALLY find it interesting, but she'd rather stare at it than at Aradia who just 'hmm'd for a while before asking, "Do you think that you deserve to be with her more than he does?"

Vriska jerked her attention away from the grass and narrowed her eyes at her friend in anger. How DARE she even ask such a stupid question? Of course Vriska deserved her more than that useless piece of garbage!

"Duh I do, isn't it obvious!?" Vriska exclaimed, wishing she'd never invited the low blood to her hive. She was no help whatsoever and only succeeded in upsetting Vriska further. What the fuck kind of friend was she anyway?

"Do you really though," Aradia persisted, compressing her nose in a way that formed little crinkles and knitting her eyebrows together to express her uncertainty, "and why?"

The last part struck Vriska as odd: why? Because she was better than that sea dweller, that's why, so how come Aradia's words struck something inside her? Did she really think that? If she was so much better, then why did Phaedra choose him over her? These questions tormented the high blood, which was evident in her response.

"I… I think I do, and because she should be with someone better. Even when they first met he just treated her with disrespect, and that's all he's gonna do now that they're together," the noble stated matter-of-factly, voice rising just the slightest bit, but enough so that Aradia could pick up on it. The gutter blood 'tsk'd for a couple seconds before retaliating with, "So you think you're better?"

Normally, Vriska would have given her opinion on that in seconds, proudly stating that she was better and anyone who disagreed could get culled, but with the combination of Aradia's questions and Phaedra's unspoken rejection, Vriska was unsure. Was she really better than anyone, Eridan specifically? Regardless of these thoughts, Vriska decided it would be best to respond like she would've any other day.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" Vriska said, trying her best to sound confident. Even if her wavering voice hadn't tipped Aradia off, her lack off eye contact and constant fidgeting only confirmed it: Vriska wasn't as sure of herself as she wanted everyone to think. With this not-so-new information, Aradia opted that the best decision would be to come out and answer with something she knew would drive Vriska over the edge.

"Because Phaedra doesn't pity you."

Eeyup, that did it right there. Aradia watched as Vriska tensed up and literally snarled at her like an animal, then raised her hand to undoubtedly strike her, but she didn't flinch. Perhaps that was why Vriska allowed her hand to fall limply to her side? She knew Aradia didn't fear her, and that had to have been the biggest blow to her pride yet. Once she came to the conclusion that she wouldn't be hitting Aradia, the spider troll just bowed her head and forced a laugh.

"Ya, I guess that's a pretty good reason ain't it?" Vriska agrees, shaking her head back and forth to display how troubled she was. She knew Aradia would give her the blunt answer she needed, that's why she invited her over: she just hadn't expected it so soon. To hear somebody else say it out loud just made it that much more true and the reality of everything was crushing Vriska. The troll she pitied didn't pity her back: that was the truth, and Vriska couldn't handle it.

"Help yourself to whatever you want in my hive, just don't go anywhere near my lusus unless you want to get eaten. I have some important stuff I need to attend to because, you know, I'm such an important troll and all," she lies, turning away from Aradia and staring at the ground. Although she can't see her, Aradia nods anyway and steps into Vriska's hive to retrieve a snack, leaving the other with her thoughts.

'_What the hell has happened to me?'_

…

Sollux turned to his new moirail with a grin that would even send Karkat's heart aflutter, deciding he'd rather see how she was doing then listen to his matesprit talk about her most recent findings while rummaging through the area surrounding her hive. She took interest in some of the most trivial things, and he swore, if he had to hear another word about some stupid rock he'd kill himself. Wouldn't that be something? Would he be able to hear his own voice before he died, or was he the exception to the voices? He'd have to remember that on his deathbed.

"Tho, you and KK are an item now?" he asked with a suggestive tone, raising his eyebrows to imply something sinister. To the right of his moirail, Karkat's milk shot out through his nose and squirted all over Terezi.

"Shut the fuck up shit sponge, nothing happened!" Karkat yelled, making Sollux and Terezi cackle, the latter dabbing away the white liquid with her napkin. Other than laughing, Sollux ignored Karkat and went back to addressing Lumia who was blushing like crazy. Terezi, still intent on harassing her mutant blooded friend, tossed the soiled napkin on his face.

"Oh Karkles, there's no need to lie! Go ahead and tell us ALL the details," she urged, Karkat's cheeks burning bright red. The two began arguing like wrigglers, continuing their mediocre exchange for awhile. This mostly consisted of Karkat yelling at Terezi, and Terezi laughing at everything he said. She never really took any of it seriously, and he was just SO adorable when he got angry!

"Ith it true?" Sollux questioned, this time a little less suggestively. Lumia nodded, the corners of her lips quirking up into a confident smile. Sollux snorted and pushed his glasses up, very amused by how quickly everyone was getting close. They were all a bunch of horn dogs, seriously. Him and Aradia had known each other for a week before they'd hooked up, but that was still longer than these pity-struck trolls! They practically jumped on the nearest available troll and clung to them for dear life.

"Wwhat the fuck Phae!"

Sollux and Lumia directed their attention across the table, watching the bitchy sea dweller stand up and sail his hands over his head. He was probably trying to convey a point, but the moirails thought it just made him look like more of an ass. The two had developed a sort of psychic connection, learning how to use their psionic's to communicate telepathically. It was pretty fucking cool.

"Wwhy are you so damn wworried about that spider bitch wwhen you havve a perfectly handsome matesprit right in front of you!? Come on, wwhat the fuck do I havve to do to get you to pay attention to me!?" Eridan whined, striking several 'sexy' poses to try to elicit some sort of reaction out of his matesprit. He finally settled on one where he's bent over and shaking his rear, holding up a peace sign while puckering his lips and winking. Phaedra just squeezed the bridge of her nose in frustration, trying not to giggle at his pose.

She fails and winds up giggling at his pose, bringing her hand up to cover her obvious smile. Sollux groans at the display, repulsed by both trolls. Phaedra because she gave into him so easily, and Eridan because… Well it's Eridan and he can't stand that asshole. Phaedra stands up and cups Eridan's cheek, rubbing her thumb in circles against his grey skin and shooshing him to the best of her abilities.

"Calm down dear, you mustn't be so selfish-"

"Ya, don't be so shellfish Eridan!" Feferi seconded, pausing her conversation with Troi to add her two sense. Behind Phaedra, Troi snickered into his hand, using the other to give his gillfround a high five which she gladly returned. Several other high fives were exchanged among the group, only darkening Eridan's mood. Phaedra fought back a laugh as she continued, ignoring the pout on her matesprits face.

"Because it's not a big deal. I'm allowed to worry about someone other than you angel, especially since she's not here, so stop being a jealous little wriggler and wipe that pout of your face. I pity you and no other, so PLEASE just sit down and let us enjoy our lunch," Phaedra soothed, telling him all the things she knew he needed to hear. He mumbled an apology and sat back down in his seat, crossing his arms and retaining his pout. It wasn't a complete win, but at least she'd gotten him to sit down.

"You're worried about Vriska?" Aradia asked, leaning over the table as she munched on her salad. When Phaedra nodded, Aradia decided to get everyone else's answer, "Is anybody else worried about her?"

"Actually, uh… I was kind of worried. Do you know where she is?" Tavros admitted, giving everyone else the courage to admit that they'd been worried too. There were a series of collective nods and questions like 'is she dead' or 'why didn't she show up' that only prompted Aradia to speak up.

"Well, she was feeling a bit exhausted after feeding her lusus and decided to just not show up," Aradia explained. This answer didn't satisfy most, which was obvious when Kanaya pointed out, "Then why is it that she's neglected to answer her Trollian? She can possibly be THAT exhausted."

"Kansis has got a point, shit just don't seem motherfucking right here," Gamzee agreed, which REALLY unnerved everybody because if he could understand how serious this was, then it must've been really bad.

"Maybe her lusus ATE HER!" Terezi joked, snickering at her divine humor. Karkat rolled his eyes and through his pizza at her, nearly smiling as the greasy food slid down her face. His near joy faded away though when she devoured the slice, taking any chances of eating away from him.

"Purrhaps we should check up on her afurter school?" Nepeta suggested, nudging her matesprit in the side so he'd agree with her. Her elbow shocked him out of his daydreams, causing him to stir and stammer out a quick, "Yes, that seems to be in order."

"Ugh, she'th got you wrapped around her freaky clawth," Sollux observed, rolling his eyes at the once-moirails. He was certainly glad that Aradia didn't control HIM so easily.

"Sollux darling, make everyone shut up," Aradia asked kindly, directing one of her eerie grins at him. On second thought…

"Yeth dear," Sollux immediately agreed, losing any backbone he'd had at one glance at her grin, "EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Everyone did just that.

"I do not think it wise to intrude on Vriska. There is nothing to worry about, she's just a little tired and admittedly kind of sick. She didn't want me to tell you she was under the weather, but I see that there was no choice. I promise she'll be better tomorrow, but for tonight let's just leave her be," Aradia informed them, fucking lying right through that creepy ass grin. This answer seemed to satisfy everyone, because they murmured a collective 'ok' and went back to their conversations.

"Equius! I still think we should visit since we live so close. Maybe we can help her get healthy!" Nepeta suggested, wanting to be as helpful as pawsible to her friend.

"Nepeta, you heard the maroon blood: we are not to bother her," the indigo blood countered, repeating Aradia's instructions. Nepeta frowned up at him and sniffled a bit for emphasis, using her cutesy charms to coax him into submission.

"Purrlease!"

Equius rolled his eyes and groaned, hating how she could do that to him. Oh who is he kidding, he pities it so freaking much she's just so adorable and all his! The high blood smiles at the smaller troll and nods.

"Fine, but we will stop by my hive first. You should be lucky I pity you, kitten. I doubt I would do this for anyone else," Equius informs her, using the pet name he totally didn't like calling her but secretly adored. Nepeta hugs him and lets out little mews as she snuggles into the crook of his neck. Beside them, Gamzee chuckles at their display of affection and turns to his own matesprit with a smirk.

"Why don't we be like them two motherfuckers and get our motherfucking snuggle on Tavbabe?" he suggests to his boyfriend, who merely blushes and scoots his four wheel device closer. Gamzee takes this as a yes and crawls into Tavros' lap, leaning in to kiss his cheek. White face paint residue is visible where he kissed, so he decides that the best option is to lick it off without taking into consideration how bad that would taste, but hey! Can't be any worse than the sopor he eats.

Gamzee licks the stuff away, not at all affected by the terrible taste, and then licks Tavros' lips. Tavros fucking giggles, then in the sweetest voice imaginable says, "We can snuggle for now, but only if we can do something dirtier later."

Ok and now Gamzee has a boner, let's just leave them be for a little bit until they do the dirtier thing.

"Thethe coupleth thicken me AA, I'm tho glad we're not like them," Sollux commented after observing all the other matesprits. He was about to say something else when Aradia grabbed his hand and placed it on her inner thigh, enabling him to form correct words. Just to prove him wrong, Aradia then inched the hand closer and closer, leaning in while doing so until his hand was cupping her crotch and her lips were connected with his.

She pulled away with an innocent smile, letting go of his hand which he didn't move. He found that he kind of liked it there, and opted to remain silent for the rest of lunch. Maybe public displays of affection weren't SO bad. Next to Aradia, Kanaya guffawed at the nerdy boy. He might be a genius, but he was so clueless sometimes.

"Oh Aradia, sweetheart, he's completely unaware of the control you have in your relationship currently, is he not?" Kanaya commented once Aradia turned back to face her.

"You have no idea," Aradia agreed, giggling as Sollux started rubbing her nook through her skirt. Kanaya noticed this and quirked an eyebrow, directing a lopsided grin her friends way.

"I honestly have no clue how you do it," the jade blood commented, making the other laugh, "No, I mean it."

Aradia laughed again, which made Kanaya smile awkwardly since she had been completely serious. Like, 100% sincere. The smile had only been for conversational purposes, so now the jade blood is just sort of sitting there thinking about how somebody could've misinterpreted her words. Ah, lovely Kanaya, overthinking things like the troll she is *insert heart here*

…

Eridan and Phaedra walked alongside each other on their way to his hive, fingers intertwined and arms brushed up against each other. The former was complaining about his seventh period Physics teacher Mrs. Snowman. Apparently she'd gotten after him for culling some asshole teal blood who SO had it coming.

"He wwas makin' fun of my hair, wwhat else wwas I supposed to do? Let him livve? Ya right," Eridan bitched, using his free hand to attack the air or something like that. How do you even describe someone who talks with their hands? I don't know.

"Well you obviously had no other choice," Phaedra agreed, squeezing Eridan's hand reassuringly, "Besides, I thought killing was encouraged at that place?"

"Not if the stupid teacher is talkin' apparently," Eridan grumbled, not looking forward to going back to school tomorrow. His girlfriend chuckled and brought his hand to her lips, kissing it sweetly.

"Just calm down baby, you shouldn't get so worked up because of that bitch," the indigo blood said, letting their hands swing between them again. Eridan's cheeks turned light purple and he allowed himself to smile for the first time in the last hour. The two continued walking in comfortable silence until they reached the shore. Eridan brought two fingers to his lips and whistled to signal his lusus, who appeared moments later to pick them up.

They both got on the skyhorse, seeing as Phaedra wouldn't be going in the ocean anytime soon. She wasn't very fond of sea dwellers, Eridan and Feferi being the exceptions, and the thought of being submersed in those murky waters made her cringe. The skyhorse let them off on the deck of Eridan's hive, then turned to his 'little wriggler' and neighed urgently.

"Wwwe need to feed Gl'bgolyb," he informed, making Eridan roll his eyes in agitation. All he wanted to do was relax at home with his matesprit, but no. He just HAD to go kill other lusii for that abomination of a creature.

"Ya wwhatevver, let's go already. Phae, just stay here: I'll be right back," the sea dweller told his matesprit as he crawled back onto his lusus and grabbed the reigns tightly.

"What, I don't get to come with this time?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing her arms and shifting all of her weight to her left side, "Actually, that's cool. This just gives me a chance to go through all your stuff!"

"Wwhat!? No don't do that!" Eridan argued, but the skyhorse was already floating upwards. Phaedra raised her middle finger and offered a cheeky smile as she watched him fly away, then sped into his hive to rummage when she received a message on Trollian. She ceased going through his reading material to respond, super happy about who'd messaged her.

**arachnidsGrip [AG] ****began trolling ****cannibalisticReaper [CR]**

**AG: Hey, you should totally come over right now ::::)**

**CR: *k, just give me ^ sec*nd. I g*tt^ le^ve Erid^n ^ n*te s* he'll kn*w I'm g*ne, then I'll be right *ver (:3**

**AG: Riiiiiiiight just hurry up, gosh!**

**CR: Hehe ^lright, I just wr*te it. I'm *n my w^y.**

**AG: Don't t8ke too long, I 8n't got all day ya know ;;;;)**

**arachnidsGrip [AG]**** ceased trolling ****cannibalisticReaper [CR]**

…

Eridan arrived back at his hive and searched for his matesprit, figuring she was hiding so she could jump out of nowhere and scare him. What she didn't know was that Eridan had already suspected this and was an expert at foiling plans. He entered his recuperacoon and noticed some of his books where out of place: she'd been here. If the out-of-place books weren't enough, the piece of paper rested atop one of the covers was. He picked it up with a frown as we read what his girlfriend had written:

"Hey de^r, s*rry I h^d t* b^il *n y*u, but Mindf^ng is fin^lly ^nswering her Tr*lli^n ^nd needed me t* c*me *ver. Pity y*u!"

The violet blood growled and crumbled up the note. How DARE she ditch him like that when he was killing lusii!? Eridan tossed the paper aside and equipped his Epiricist's Wand from his strife specibus. If Vriska thought she could steal HIS Phaedra away from him, she had another thing coming. He gripped the wand tightly and prepared to go to Vriska's hive for a not-so-friendly little duel.

Wow, overreact much?

…

"AC sneaks up behind her matespurrit and cattures him in a big hug!" Nepeta narrates and then follows through with her words, smiling brightly and squeezing his abdomen. Equius lets out a little gasp of surprise, then grins and uses two fingers to grab each of her wrists. He effortlessly removes the limbs, then releases her and spins around. He'd been working on controlling his strength so he could actually hold the troll he pitied, and was doing an excellent job with her help. Nepeta was pretty STRONG already from sweeps of hunting and surprised the high blood with how much force she could endure, so that was super helpful, but he still wanted to learn to restrain it just in case.

Equius tickled Nepeta's sides, making her laugh obnoxiously while begging him to stop. He didn't though, enjoying the overall happiness emanating from the kitten troll. It was just too much for Nepeta, who was doing her best to pry his hands away while letting out the occasional snort. Sensing her discomfort after a while, Equius instead lifted her in the air and brought her to his height.

She was quick to wrap her legs around his chest and nuzzle all along his face, enjoying how for once she was taller than him. He chuckled whole-heartedly and closed his eyes in contentment while she did, allowing himself to indulge in the little purrs that reverberated from her throat. Equius had grown comfortable in their position, which Nepeta used to her advantage. She squirmed out of his grip and swung around on his body so she was now hanging off his back with her arms around his neck.

"Oh Equius, you're pawsitively exquisite in efury way!" the olive blood exclaimed, placing her hands over Equius' sunglasses and squeezing her thighs tighter against his sides, "We should do what I suggested during lunch!"

Nepeta detached herself and walked back around to face him, pressing her hands to his chest and looking up at him with earnest, adding a 'purrlease' for good measure. She watched as Equius' grin faded away into something more passive, meaning he wasn't too keen on the idea, but would still consider it for her. Sensing that he was leaning towards saying no, Nepeta gave him the biggest, cutest eyes she could and intensely stared at him.

Unsurprisingly, Equius melted in her gaze and nodded forlornly, ashamed that he'd given in so easily. Nepeta twirled in her spot, let out a squeal, and tugged on her boyfriend's hands eagerly.

"Come on, let's go now: too Vriskers!"

**Chapters just keep getting shorter and shorter. Gonna go watch Attack on Titan now, later :P**


	8. Petty Trolls and Their Petty Issues

**Damn, they just keep getting shorter. Is anyone even still reading this? Anyway, I got tired of writing super long chapters, so here ya go. I figured, my other story only has about 2000 words per chapter, so why try to make this even longer? Meh, I don't know.**

Phaedra bounded over the steps and eagerly rapped on the door, excited to see her friend. She was worried about her despite all the reassurances of Aradia and needed to make sure Terezi wasn't right about the lusus thing because seriously? That'd fucking suck. Thankfully, this theory was put to shame when the door opened to reveal none other than Vriska Serket who appeared to be in perfect condition. Too perfect, actually, for a troll who claimed sickness, but why would Aradia lie?

"Mindfang!" Phaedra exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the blue blooded troll and throwing caution to the wind. Who even cared if Aradia lied? As long as Vriska was safe, the indigo blood didn't give a damn. Vriska returned the hug with both arms wrapping around the others waist, enjoying the embrace for as long as she could. Would Phaedra pulled away, it pained her, but she just grinned and looked over her friend.

"Gosh, someone was certainly happy to see me!" she said arrogantly, crossing her arms across her chest to keep up her façade. Phaedra just smiled brilliantly and darted into her friend's hive, plopping herself on the couch and staring at Vriska expectantly. The spider troll chuckled and walked over to Phaedra, sitting beside her and keeping the door wide open. Besides, it was nice to get some fresh air in here while she could. She tried to ignore the closeness of her and the scythe-wielder, eyes fixated on her nails while Phaedra's gaze remained on her.

"So why didn't you go to school," she asked, curiosity evident on her face. Vriska just set her hand on her own thigh, throwing out a nonchalant, "Eh, didn't feel like it."

"Well you don't look very sick," Phaedra persisted, bringing her legs up and positioning them underneath her so that she towered over her friend by a couple inches, "So why'd Aradia say you were?"

Vriska looked up at her friend and smirked, pleased with the excuse Aradia gave the group. She was surprised the maroon blood managed to come up with something to cover for her honestly. This reason would be easy for Vriska to manipulate.

"So the teachers wouldn't suspect anything, duh," she explained as if it were obvious, talking with her hands the entire time. Phaedra quirked an eyebrow, but didn't question her any further because two more trolls were now making their presence known.

"Hi Vriskers! Oh, and hello to you too Phaedra," the kitten troll greeted happily, dragging her matesprit to the couch across from the two girls, "We didn't know you'd be here, but that's ok! Just don't be doing anything with your kismewsis while I'm here."

She winked at Phaedra, but all the noble paid attention to was the look of shock on Equius' face. She smirked, daring him to say something, but he remained silent and scooted closer to Nepeta. Sensing his discomfort, Nepeta crawled into Equius lap and wrapped two small arms around his neck comfortingly. It eased his mind, if only slightly, but enough so that the four of them could have a normal conversation.

"What a way of knocking! You could've at least ASKED to come in," Vriska said with a grin, giving them both the evil eye. Equius groaned his frustration, but Nepeta just giggled and responded with, "Oh Vriskers, we're sorry, we were just worried!"

"Speak for yourself Nepeta," Equius added gruffly, not very happy with his current position. He disliked both the girls across from him and wanted nothing more than to be alone with his matesprit. Said matesprit proceeded to elbow him in the stomach, very clearly warning him to shut the fuck up. He complies.

"Oh how sweet Equius!" Vriska teased, winking at him like Nepeta had done earlier, "You were worried about little ole' me?"

Equius just turned away and grunted, to which Vriska laughed hysterically. Phaedra and Nepeta laughed as well, finding the antics very amusing.

"So purrlease tell me, were you really sick?" Nepeta asked seriously, worry very clear in her words. Vriska just scoffed and rolled her eyes, replying with, "Of course not! I just didn't wanna go to school, and I couldn't have you losers ratting me out to the teachers!"

It was Phaedra's turn to roll her eyes this time, punching Vriska lightly on the shoulder. Well, it was intended to be light, but you know how indigo bloods work. Vriska rubbed at the spot casually, pretty sure a bruise would bloom there later.

"Cool it Mindfang, we were just worried. You could've at least messaged us," the indigo girl said with a smile, leaning into the arm rest behind her and away from Vriska's reach. She was pretty sure the other wanted to punch her back.

"Well I SUPPOSE I could have, but-"

"HEY VVRIS!"

The four trolls all turned towards the doorway, staring at a very pissed off Eridan wielding a wand that pulsed a white aura. His brows were creased and his fangs were bared, meaning he had a bone to pick. With Vriska, apparently.

"I got a bone to pick wwith you spider bitch!" he shouted, aiming the wand in her direction and taking a couple steps forward. Vriska busted up laughing, covering up the fact that she was equipping her dice on the other side of the arm rest.

"Oh really! This ought to be fun, huh guys?" she asked, questioning her three guests rhetorically. Her guests didn't behave in quite the same manner, reacting with a serious outlook and a rather grim one at that. Equius grumbled something about how he needed new friends, then scooped up Nepeta and made to leave the room.

"Wwhere the fuck do you think YOU'RE goin'?" Eridan questioned, glaring daggers at the STRONG troll. Equius returned the glare, his eyebrows being enough to convey his anger.

"I'm leaving with my Nepeta," he answered, then dropped the tone of his voice to a threatening one that sent shivers up everyone's spines, "and if DARE lay a hand on her, I will personally see to your demise: sea dweller or not."

Eridan watched the two trolls leave, going to some unknown location in Vriska's hive to wait everything out, then turned to the girls still on the couch. Vriska's façade had vanished once Equius had spoken, but c'mon, who would be able to laugh with Equius threatening them? Like, legit threatening? Nobody, that's who.

"Anywway, I came here to settle this once and for all," Eridan explained, directing all of his attention to Vriska. The blue blood just grinned and stood up, hiding her dice behind her back.

"Oh? And what might we be settling?" she taunted, voice laced with mischief. Eridan growled and took a couple more steps forward.

"You knoww vvery wwell wwhat! I knoww you wwant my matesprit, but that's not happenin' 'cause she's mine!" he yelled, falling for her childish games like usual. She snickered and rolled her dice, revealing a combination that rewarded her with a blue flamethrower.

"Well then Eridan: bring it."

Eridan willed his wand to shoot, white science blasting towards Vriska. The blue blood dodged effortlessly, leaping into the air and sailing right over the beam. The stream of white struck the couch Nepeta and Equius had been resting on, shooting a hole right through its cushions. As soon as Vriska landed, she brought up her weapon and unleashed the flames held within, aimed towards Eridan and ready to burn.

He dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way, bringing his cape up to shield himself from the heat. Once he was sure she'd let up, he regained his composure and shot another blinding white streak in Vriska's direction. She side stepped it, if just barely, and cackled as she turned up the heat once more. At the same time, Eridan had shot another projectile towards her, both energy flows meeting in a duel.

The science pressed on, much more eager than Vriska's fire, and nearly engulfed the weapon and the troll when a piece of metal interrupted the meeting. It was a scythe, the battling trolls soon realized, and it didn't take brains to know who was wielding it. Phaedra had positioned her weapon between the two streams, chanting her mantra while the other two were busy with their petty fight.

"Would you two stop being fucking morons and put the weapons away!?" she asked, growing very irritated by their behavior. Eridan growled and let up, placing his wand back into his strife deck. Vriska did the same once her flamethrower transformed back into the dice, and now both angry trolls were staring at Phaedra who continued to wield her weapon. Can't take any chances, after all.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Ampora? And Mindfang, seriously? He could've killed you dumbass!" she yelled, clenching her eyes in frustration. The other two just glanced around the room nervously, avoiding each other's gaze as long as they could.

"You know what? Fuck both of you! Ampora, when you're done being a possessive asshole, talk to me, and Mindfang," she paused, allowing what Eridan said about her feelings process, "I'm so sorry."

With that, she stormed out the door, prepared to take on the many dangers of Alternia. The two trolls just stood there in silence, the unsaid words threatening to break both of them apart. Vriska was the first to allow this.

"Get out of my hive…," she said, low and threatening. When she received no response, her tone became more vicious, "I said to get out of my hive! That goes for all of you!"

Soon after Equius appeared in the living room with a scared Nepeta in his arms, walking calmly to the front door. On his way out he glared at Eridan and bared his teeth, or what was left of them, making the other whine in fear. Eridan decided to take his leave as well, slamming the door behind him to make his point, which was already far too clear.


	9. Fluffy Paleness

_**cannibalisticReaper [CR] ****began trolling ****eternalNeutrality [EN]**_

_CR: Hey, c^n we meet up s*mewhere?_

_EN: …sure…_

_EN: …your hive or mine…_

_CR: Well I'm s*rt *f ^lre^dy *utside y*ur d**r, s* let's g* with y*urs._

_EN: …so basically…you weren't gonna take no as an answer…_

_CR: Pretty much, I need y*u. If Peixes is *ver I'll le^ve, but… /:3_

_EN: …nah…she's hanging out with lumia…ill be down in a minute…_

_**eternalNeutrality [EN] ****ceased trolling ****cannibalisticReaper [CR]**_

Troi closed his husk top and sighed, wondering what on Alternia could've set off his moirail this time. She was always like that: getting upset over things to the point of culling. He never understood her bloodlust, but that probably had something to do with how laidback he was. The olive blood walks downstairs to the first floor of his two floor hive. It wasn't significantly large, but why would anyone even need something bigger than this? That would just be lonely, and he can't have that harshing his mellow.

The mid-blood walks to the front door and opens it to invite Phaedra in, but she's already taken it upon herself and speeds through the door. He chuckles and shuts the door, locking it behind him and following his moirail. Just one look at her and Troi knows his works cut out for him: she's shaking, and still wielding her scythe which is never a good sign. Her eyes are darting around and taking in the familiar settings of his hive, and it seems to calm her a little because she's no longer baring her three fangs.

He sits on the ground beside her, seeing as he never bothered to put furniture in his foyer. What was the point of that? His lusus, a platypus the size of a couch named Platy for short, is sitting on the other side of Phaedra munching on some lettuce and staring at her. She smiles and pets the lusus she'd known since she was young, finding solace in the big girl. After her lusus died, she sort of considering Platy as a second one, showering her with adoration. Platy was grateful, and enjoyed the snacks Phaedra gave her. Speaking of…

"Come to me my pre-cut cantaloupe, so that Platy may enjoy your delicious taste. Allow her to experience the delight that is cantaloupe," Phaedra chants, and a plate full of cantaloupe leaves her mantra modus and is now in her hand. She sets the plate in front of Platy and hugs the lusus, planting a kiss on her head. Platy purrs (what sound do platypus even make!?) in gratitude and munches on the fruit happily. Beside Phaedra, Troi is doing his best to conceal the laughter and fails.

"What's so fucking funny?" Phaedra asks, turning to him with a glare that only implied death and raising her scythe just in case he gave a wrong answer. Troi just stares at the weapon with a lop sided grin, daring her to hurt him. She didn't before, and she wouldn't now.

"I'll just never get used to that stupid modus of yours. The whole chanting for cantaloupe thing just seems funny I guess," he replies casually, even throwing in a yawn afterwards to express how boring her threat had been. She just sets the scythe down and smiles with him, sitting back down between Troi and Platy.

"I guess you have a point, it does get pretty annoying," she chuckles, looking at her moirail in amusement. She watches as the grin disappears from his face and he takes on a more serious look, getting down to the reason she was here.

"So what happened?" he asks far too soon. Phaedra sighs and stares at the floor, running her finger along the blade so her dark blue blood stains the metal. She winces slightly, but ignores it and answers her moirail.

"Ampora and Mindfang got in a fight over me and Mindfang almost died, but I ended it and basically told them to fuck off," she explains, clenching her fist around the blade in an effort to reduce her anger. More blood pours from the cut, but she doesn't care as two arms wrap around her waist from behind. She leans into the touch, enjoying how her moirail's heartbeat seemed to match her own.

"So Vriska has red feelings for ya, huh? Not really surprised there," Troi admits, surprised it took Phaedra so long to figure THAT out, "Who started it?"

"Ampora. I was at Mindfang's with the other moirails that are like us, Zahhak and Lejion, when he just randomly showed up and challenged Mindfang to a duel or some shit. His jealousy has gotten way out of fucking hand, it's only been a couple days and he's acting like he owns me!"

Troi rested his chin on Phaedra's shoulder, pulling her into his lap and letting his breath settle on her neck.

"I'm sure he doesn't mean to be a total asshole. You're a lovely girl, and he's scared you'll leave because let's face it: Vriska's hot," Troi says with a laugh, making Phaedra mimic his joy. She chuckles and places her hands atop his, knowing he was right like always about all of it.

"Ya you got that right," she agrees, making Troi snicker because BOOM he was right, "Don't think I haven't noticed how good looking my friend is."

"Just make sure you don't go thinking she's better than me, understand?" Troi jokes, but there's a dangerous undertone to his voice that means he's partly serious.

"Nobody could be better than you dummy. Relax, I'm super pale for you and junk. Moirails forever and all that sappy stuff," Phaedra says with a smile, snuggling deeper into Troi's arms.

"Pale for you too. Now, put the damn scythe away before I have to resort to violence."

"Violence? Ya right, you won't-"

She shrieks, being tossed to the ground by Troi and pinned so she can't get back up. Well, she could, but she ain't gonna ruin the fun. Troi looks down at her with a smirk and says, "Last chance."

She just grins, providing her answer without any words. Troi chuckles and tickles her sides, making her bust up with laughter and squirm beneath him. She squeezes her eyes shut and does her best to cover the areas he's trying to tickle, but he just moves to different areas for every one she covers up.

"Troi stop!" she says with a smile, wiggling away from her moirail. He grins and lets her go, happy with his handiwork.

"Are you gonna kill anybody? Because if you do, there's more where that came from," he playfully threatens, and Phaedra just snorts and grab her scythe, placing it back in her strife specibus.

"Fine, I'll be good," she says, hugging her moirail and knocking him on his back. He hugs her back and pets her hair soothingly, trying to fix whatever trickles of rage are still left. She nuzzles into his neck and soon he notices her breathing had gotten significantly slower.

"Oh shit, you did not just fall asleep on me Phaedra!" Troi says, but when he receives no response he knows she has. He wears an amused smile and tightens his hold on his moirail, deciding he might as well sleep too because there was no way she was getting off him. She was a stubborn little bitch, he'd give her that.

"Good night," he says, pressing a friendly kiss to her forehead before dozing off and dreaming about some not so appropriate things involving Feferi. Platy looks at the pale couple and curls herself around them, following their actions and falling asleep with her favorite trolls.

**Just some moirallegince ****fluff XP**


	10. Forgive and Forget

**Alright so this, plus the other one I just added before count as one whole update. Wha-lah!**

Eridan marched back to his hive in a huff, not believing what just happened. HIS matesprit just defended that pathetic spider bitch when he was so close to ending her life! Eridan grimaces and watches Equius carry Nepeta back to his hive, pissed off because even THEIR matespritship was working perfectly, while his was crumbling after only a couple days. He was so… Stupid. Deciding he needed help to win back his beloved, he makes his way back to his hive and into his recuperacoon so he can troll somebody he knows will be able to help.

_**caligulasAquarium [CA] ****began trolling ****whimsicalRebellion [WR]**_

_CA: i need your help_

_WR: um who i$ thi$?_

_CA: your friends freakin matesprit Eridan_

_WR: oh! ok what do you need?_

_CA: i wwas wwonderin if i could come ovver so wwe could talk or somethin like that_

_WR: $ure i gue$$._

_CA: excellent_

_**caligulasAquarium [CA] ****ceased trolling ****whimsicalRebellion [WR]**_

Eridan puts his husktop back in its original location and sprints to the deck of his hive. His skyhorse, sensing his troll's distress, is patiently waiting for him. The sea dweller climbs on the saddle of his lusus and orders him to go to Lumia's hive, which he does hastily. Once there, Eridan orders his lusus to wait outside for him so he has a way back after the visit. He knocks proudly on the door, waiting for Lumia to invite him in when somebody else answer instead: Feferi.

"Wwhat the fuck Fef, wwhy are you here?" he exclaims, glaring at Lumia who's sitting in a recliner in the front room. Feferi just laughs nervously and ignores his question, turning to Lumia in distress.

"Um… Lumia, you didn't say Eridan would be glubbing over," she points out, making Lumia feel quite guilty. The yellow blood shrugs in an attempt to seem indifferent, refusing to look at either of her guests right now.

"Ugh wwhatevver, I don't evven care if you're here because I need to talk to Lumia noww!" Eridan says, explaining why he was even here and pushing past Feferi. He stands in front of the chair that Lumia is chilling in and narrows his eyes at her, placing both hands on his hips. Feferi sighs and closes the door, sitting in the chair across from the TV and next to Lumia's. She focuses on the TV, wishing that Eridan weren't here right now because this was just so glubbing awkward!

"Alright so I challenged Vvris to a duel and I almost wwon and killed her, but Phae cut in and savved her and she wwas all like fuck off Ampora and left, so noww I don't knoww wwhat to do so she'll stop bein' all mad at me and junk!"

Lumia blinked and stared at Eridan in shock, not because of what happened with her friend, but because she had no clue what the actual fuck he was talking about right now. She looked over at Feferi for help, who just giggled and rested her hand on Lumia's arm.

"Allow me dear. I've glubbed with him for a while, I can translate! He says he tried to krill Vriska, fish is a big no-no, and Phaedra stopped him! Then she got upset at Eridan and whale, he just wants to glub it up to her," Feferi explained with a grin, thinking the whole situation was sort of romantic in a twisted kind of way. The yellow blood nodded and looked back at Eridan before giving him her diagnosis.

"You need to go to her now. If you wait, it'll only piss her off even more. She's not like other girls, she doesn't need space, she needs someone to calm her down before she gets super upset and does something bad. If I know her, she'll probably be at Troi's right now so I suggest you start there. Tell her you're sorry and that you'll even apologize to Vriska. Then she'll forgive you, so long as you don't try to kill her friend again. If you do this a second time, it won't be so easy to fix."

Eridan blanches at the advice: it was seriously that easy? He didn't even need to come here, he could've just gone to Troi's and apologized!? Talk about a waste of his precious time. Not only did he waste valuable time, but he also had to see his ex-moirail. What could be worse?

"Ok I guess. Thanks or wwhatevver, bye," he says before storming out of his hive. Feferi groans and looks at her friend, very much annoyed with Eridan's lack of sincerity in his words.

"He's so glubbing mean!" she says with a pout, making Lumia laugh.

"He's just upset, it's fine," Lumia assures the sea dweller, "Now let's just watch some more TV ok?"

…

Eridan approached the door to Troi's hive nervously, lightly rapping on the door with his knuckles. Behind him stood his skyhorse, once again waiting patiently for his troll to finish up his affairs. When he receives so answer, Eridan becomes annoyed and bangs on the door forcefully. Inside, Troi, Platy, and Phaedra jolt awake, eyes darting around the room trying to find out where that noise had come from.

Then they hear it again and realize that somebody is knocking on the door. Phaedra groans, already a bit grouchy because she'd literally gotten like a half hour of sleep, and trudges to the door, leaving Troi and Platy to fall back asleep while she deals with this nuisance. She opens the door rudely, greeting the pest with an irritated, "What the fuck do you-"

But then she notices who it is and stops mid sentence. In front of her, Eridan looks like a scared wriggler as he fidgets with the end of his cape anxiously. The indigo blood groans and steps outside, closing the door behind her so she wouldn't wake the two sleeping inside.

"What is it?" she asks in a harsh tone, glaring at her matesprit. He falls to his knees and clutches the end of her tank top, violet tears already flowing down his cheeks as his words stumble out.

"Oh Phae I'm so sorry about tryin' to kill Vvris, I wwas just jealous because I don't wwanna lose ya! Please don't end our matespritship because I pity you and I don't knoww wwhat I'd do wwithout ya!"

Phaedra bends down on her knees and hugs her matesprit, shooshing him to the best of her abilities and rubbing his back comfortingly. He buries his face in her shoulder and continues to cry, staining the exposed grey skin violet.

"It's ok Ampora, I wasn't gonna end our matespritship. I was just a little mad darling, don't worry," she soothes, throwing all of her own problems away to deal with the troll she pities, "Just don't try killing my fucking friend again, ok angel?"

He looks up at her and nods, lips still quivering the slightest. Phaedra offers a small smile and wipes away his tears, then kisses his forehead sweetly.

"C'mon, go ahead and send your lusus home. We're just going to stay at Troi's, ok?"

Again he nods, to which his lusus flies away with a pride filled whinnie. Phaedra ushers Eridan inside the hive and asks him to stay put, then runs upstairs and grabs a hand full of sopor for her friend. She sprints back down and lathers the ooze on his face, then drags Eridan into the living room and makes him sit on the couch.

"We're gonna watch some TV, ok? Just lay down."

Eridan does as he's told and lays down on the couch while Phaedra turns to some show called Tosh.0, then lies on the couch in front of Eridan and snuggles into him. He instinctively drapes an arm over her and uses his other one to prop his head up.

"Thanks for bein' so nice bout this Phae," Eridan says, kissing the top of her head to show how appreciative he is. Phaedra just shrugs and smiles, not really thinking it was a big deal. Of course she'd forgive him: she pitied him, and when you pity somebody you'll do anything in the world just to make sure that they're happy.


	11. Le Epilogue (Vriska's Happy Ending)

**Alright so I decided that, since every ship was official, the earlier chapter would be the end of this story. Here's just a little epilogue type thing for Vriska, who deserves some pity too. Enjoy.**

It'd been a fourth of a sweep since the duel with Eridan, and Vriska was a wreck. For two months she skipped school, not wanting to see the couple or her friends for fear that she'd lose it. Then the school had notified her, saying that if she missed even one more day they'd cull her lusus. As much of a burden as the spider lusus was, Vriska would never allow anyone to hurt her, so she started going back to school. She still avoided her friends, refusing to even look at them in the classes they shared. It was just too much.

The school half sweep was halfway over, and Vriska wasn't sure how much more she could take as she stared blankly at the front of the room in her second period class.

"Vriska, do you know the answer?"

Vriska jerked out of her day-nightmarish state and stared wide eyed at the teacher, having no clue what he was asking her. The students laughed at her while the teacher just sighed and shook her head.

"Dammit, this is the tenth time I've called on you for an answer and received none this week. Go to the office, now."

Vriska stood up and bowed her head, gathering up her these as more snickers came from the class. Then…

"You fucking know the fuck what? Fucking all of you fuckers can shut the fuck up before I fucking cull every last fucking one of you!"

The blue blood looked up and stared at the girl who had spoken. She was a maroon blood with short choppy hair that was shaved off on one side. Her horns shot straight out of her head, then wrapped around in a big circle that reminded Vriska of a branding iron. She had on a black mini skirt and dark red leggings, knee high boots and a black crop top. Vriska had to admit: she looked good. In her ears she had gauges, and around her neck hung a large necklace with her symbol on it, which looked like a Y-Cross cattle sign.

She girl pouted and stared the teacher down, daring anybody to say a damn thing. Nobody did, besides the teacher who sent her to the office as well.

…

"So, fucking Vriska was it? What the fuck has got you so fucking depressed all the fucking time?"

That maroon blood from earlier was now slouching in her chair next to Vriska, looking up at her and spreading her legs for all to see. Vriska managed a small smile and looked down at the gutter blood.

"Nothing really, just some lame stuff involving unrequited red feelings," she explains, trying to brush it off as nothing. The maroon blood wouldn't have it and sat up, crossing her legs and draping an arm over Vriska's shoulders. She extends the other hand as a greeting and offers a lop sided smirk in the blue bloods direction.

"Doesn't fucking seem like fucking nothing to be, but fuck it. The name's Bovina: fucking Bovina Gretin. Pleased to fucking meet ya bae," Bovina greeted, to which Vriska shook to offered hand, "And I don't fucking know who fucking rejected you, but they must have been fucking stupid as hell because only a fucking idiot would fucking say no to you."

Vriska blushed bright blue and turned away, making Bovina smile and tilt her face towards her.

"Pardon me for fucking being forward, but how'd you fucking like to fucking hang out some time?"

Vriska frowned and thought about this for a while. All she'd been doing was staying hung up on Phaedra: maybe now was time to move on? Who knew, maybe things with Bovina could develop into a matespritship and then Vriska could hang out with her old friends again? Vriska smirked at Bovina and raised an eyebrow, making up her mind because she was VRISKA: she didn't need to be hung up on some troll who didn't want her that way.

"Ya know what? That sounds kinda nice actually," Vriska admits, agreeing to the invitation because she didn't need Phaedra. She was Vriska Serket, blue blood extordinare, and she was a very important troll who had SO MANY irons in the fire and ALL the luck: fucking all of it.

…

_So here's how everyone else ended up._

_Karkat and Lumia continued their relationship, evolving into a proper matespritship. Lumia keeps a pretty tight leash on Karkat so he doesn't scream at random trolls because he gets a bit jealous when they stare at his matesprit too long. They're deep in pity and couldn't be happier, seeing as Karkat got the romcom he so desperately wanted._

_Equius and Nepeta maintained their matespritship, using each other to explore their various kinks. They wound up with a lot of bruises most nights, but they were happy and pitied each other a whole lot. Nepeta was happy that her OTP came true, and Equius was pleased to have someone who could calm him down during the worst of times._

_Phaedra and Eridan went along with their difficult matespritship, but with Phaedra's undying pity and patience, Eridan's jealousy and whining isn't a problem. He's just thrilled to finally have someone who pities him, even if some of his old insecurities pop up from time to time. Phaedra is just happy that she has someone to care for._

_Troi and Feferi are still messing around with Sollux, Aradia, Kanaya, and there newest member: Terezi! They're a happy, vibrant, and youthful matesprit couple who live every day like it's their last. The two are very much in pity and like to experience new and exciting things for the sake of their matesprits. Troi adores his lovely matesprit and cherishes her like no other. Feferi is just happy to be treated like a princess (even though she is one so…)_

_Sollux and Aradia took up exploration. Sollux hates it, but pities Aradia so much that he's willing to travel across Alternia and endure the many dangers to processes. Sometimes there multiple lovers tag along and travel with them, in which orgies ensue. Aradia still has a nice grip on Sollux, who still denies being controlled by the girl he pities._

_Gamzee and Tavros still represent the very definition of OTP, with Tavros being adorable and gaining confidence while Gamzee remains in his sopor induced stupor and supports his matesprit to the best of his abilities, letting him take control when they pail because he's just that nice. Also, Tavros sort of enjoys taking control because he very rarely gets to be dominant. In fact, he sometimes takes it too far O.O_

_Vriska and Bovina court for weeks before finally becoming a matespritship. The two begin hanging out with Vriska's friends and are immediately welcomed into the group. It took some time, but Vriska finally got used to seeing Phaedra and Eridan together and managed to salvage her best friendship with Phaedra. Once Bovina discovered who Eridan was, she entered a blackrom relationship with him because of what he did to her pitied matesprit._

_Kanaya and Terezi continue to be background characters because there is no ROSE! It's impossible for me to ship Kanaya with anybody else! And I honestly don't ship Terezi with anyone so… Ya, BG characters. Boom._

_All in all, everything works out for the group of friends and they live happily ever after, just like in Karkat's dreams TuT_

**A Note to All My Readers**

**Thank you all so much for reading this. It was my first attempt at a multiple chapter story, and I know it's not the best and it sort of got a bit choppy at the end, but I appreciate all of you for hanging in there. To those of your reading this: thank you, and I platonically love all of you. I hope you'll read some of my other work, but for now I'm just happy you took the time to read this. Have a wonderful rest of the day to everyone c:**


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